What Does Deuteronomy 7:12 Mean in the King James?

Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

Deuteronomy 7:12 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

You guard the judgments; the LORD guards the covenant, the verse gives both sides the same verb.

THE MEANING

Your hearing is living and responsive: it carries these judgments into keeping and doing. The verse presents the LORD as keeping covenant and faithful love toward you as you hear, guard, and enact them.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It loosens the idea that hearing is only taking in words: here, hearing is already oriented toward keeping and doing.

THE ROOT

וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם

ushmartem

GROWS FROM

שׁמר

The root ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar) means to guard, watch over, or keep.

The verse uses the same root for your guarding of the judgments and the LORD’s keeping of the covenant toward you. English repeats “keep,” while Hebrew makes the shared root unmistakable.

ALSO GROWS

shomer: watcher; keeper

שֹׁמֵר

The watcher’s role shows that keeping carries attentiveness, not mere possession.

mishmeret: guard, watch, or charge

מִשְׁמֶרֶת

This branch makes the guarded responsibility in “keep these judgments” audible.

תִּשְׁמְעוּן

tishme'un

GROWS FROM

שׁמע

The root ⁨שׁמע⁩ (shamaʿ) means to hear, listen, or heed; here the hearing opens toward response.

“hearken” in this verse is tishme'un. This is not hearing as sound passing by: the verse’s listening is poised to become action. It leads directly into guarding and doing, so hearing begins a movement rather than standing alone.

ALSO GROWS

shemaʿ: hear; heed and respond

שְׁמַע

This familiar imperative from the same root holds listening and response close together.

shemuʿah: report; something heard

שְׁמוּעָה

A report is what has been heard and received, showing the root’s link between listening and what enters a person.

THE PATTERN

Scripture joins hearing a word to keeping and doing it, with covenant faithfulness expressed through that response.

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

Exodus 19:5 · KJVHearing and keeping appear together as the response through which the covenant relationship is lived.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1:22 · KJVThe verse exposes hearing cut off from action as an illusion of response.

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 2:3 · KJVKeeping the commandments is presented as the lived expression of knowing God.

THE THREAD

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

Deuteronomy 7:9 · KJV

Deuteronomy 7:9 places the same root ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar, guard or keep) on both God and the people: God keeps covenant, and they keep commandments. Deuteronomy 7:12 repeats that shared root, while ⁨חֶסֶד⁩ (chesed, faithful love) names the covenant’s relational substance.

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