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

The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

Deuteronomy 7:7 · 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

God’s love is not explained by numerical advantage: the chosen are named as the fewest.

THE MEANING

Being few does not make you invisible to love; this verse places love and choosing beyond the measure of numbers. Your smallness is named plainly, without being treated as a defect that must first be corrected.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that you must become impressive, powerful, or numerous to be worthy of love.

THE ROOT

חָשַׁק

ḥāšaq

GROWS FROM

חשק

To attach, cling, or desire.

“set his love upon” in this verse is ḥāšaq. The word translated “set his love” carries the sense of desire that attaches. Its sibling uses describe longing for someone, so the verse pictures love as attachment alongside choosing, without making a people’s numbers the reason for either.

ALSO GROWS

longeth: Longs for or desires.

The same root describes desire that reaches toward a person, adding the sense of attachment to the verse’s “set his love.”

desire: Desires or becomes attached to.

Here too the root speaks of a desire that takes hold, opening up the force in the verse’s language of love.

THE PATTERN

Divine choosing repeatedly appears where human measures of strength and rank cannot explain it.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.

1 Samuel 2:8 · KJVThe verse places people at the lowest social level among princes, overturning rank as a measure of who can be raised up.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1 Corinthians 1:27 · KJVChoosing falls on what the world calls weak, so strength cannot explain who is chosen.

THE THREAD

Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 10:15 · KJV

The same Hebrew root behind “set his love” appears here as “had a delight,” paired with “chose.” That pairing lets you hear attachment and selection together, with no appeal to a people’s size.

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