What Does Deuteronomy 7:23 Mean in the King James?
But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew repeats the H-M-M root in an act of confusion and a great tumult, then names destruction as the endpoint.
THE MEANING
The verse places you in a scene where God gives a people over to you, and upheaval continues until they are destroyed. The repeated H-M-M sound makes the disorder audible; the final verb states the lethal outcome plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that deliverance is always gentle or leaves the opposing side unharmed: here, the verse names their destruction as the endpoint.
THE ROOT
וְהָמָם
wehāmām
GROWS FROM
המם
To confuse, discomfit, or throw into tumult.
“destroy, destruction” in this verse is wehāmām. The verb and noun repeat the same root: he throws them into confusion with a great confusion. The verse lets upheaval sound through the sentence before naming destruction as its outcome.
ALSO GROWS
hāmam: To confuse or discomfit.
הָמַם
This is the verb form of the root heard in the verse’s upheaval.
mehumāh: Confusion or tumult.
מְהוּמָה
This noun repeats the verb’s root, making the action and the resulting turmoil echo one another.
וּנְתָנָם
ūnetānām
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
The Hebrew verb behind “deliver” is natan: to give, set, or place. The verse opens with God placing them before you, before describing the confusion and destruction.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb’s seed: the people are given over and placed before the addressee.
mattanāh: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
The noun carries the same seed of giving, illuminating the basic action expressed by natan.
הִשָּׁמְדָם
hiššāmdām
GROWS FROM
שמד
To destroy or bring to ruin.
The final verb comes from a different root than the repeated H-M-M words and states the outcome directly: they are destroyed. That ending keeps the verse’s violence explicit.
ALSO GROWS
shāmad: To destroy or annihilate.
שָׁמַד
This is the root’s basic verb, naming the outcome stated at the end of the verse.
lehašmīd: To destroy or wipe out.
לְהַשְׁמִיד
This form of the same root appears in Esther 3:13, echoing the verse’s explicit endpoint.
THE PATTERN
In these passages, divine intervention throws an opposing force out of order, and that disorder can lead to its defeat.
And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.THE THREAD
And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,Exodus uses the same H-M-M root where the KJV says the LORD “troubled” the Egyptian host. It makes the upheaval in Deuteronomy audible, while Deuteronomy’s final verb states that the confusion ends in destruction.
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