What Does Deuteronomy 9:16 Mean in the King James?
And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.
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 turn away from the commanded way takes shape in what the hands make to follow instead.
THE MEANING
The verse holds together a break in relationship with God and the immediate making of a substitute. The departure does not stay abstract; it takes shape in what the hands produce.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that a quick turn away is only a change of direction; here, it takes shape in what the hands make.
THE ROOT
סַרְתֶּם
sartem
GROWS FROM
סור
sur
Turn aside, depart, or remove.
English can make “turned aside” sound like a single wrong choice, but סור (sur) carries the motion of departing from a course. Here that departure is immediately joined to the making of a substitute.
ALSO GROWS
sur: Turn aside; depart.
סוּר
This is the root verb whose motion the verse names in “turned aside.”
hēsîr: Remove; take away.
הֵסִיר
The same root can describe something being moved from its place, giving the departure a sense of leaving the set course.
דֶּרֶךְ
derek
GROWS FROM
דרך
darak
Tread, step, or travel.
The “way” is also a course made by treading: a path walked, not merely an idea. Turning aside from it is a departure from a lived direction.
ALSO GROWS
dārak: Tread; step.
דָּרַךְ
The verb gives the path its physical image: a way is something trodden.
midrākh: A place trodden; a footprint or stepping place.
מִדְרָךְ
This related noun keeps the path connected to the steps that mark it.
מַסֵּכָה
massekhah
GROWS FROM
נסך
nasak
Pour out; cast by pouring.
“Molten” carries the image of something poured into form. The departure from the way becomes visible as a made object, shaped by the hands.
ALSO GROWS
nasak: Pour out; cast.
נָסַךְ
The verb reveals the poured process behind the word for the molten object.
nesekh: A poured offering or libation.
נֶסֶךְ
This related word preserves the root’s concrete image of liquid being poured out.
THE PATTERN
A turn away from the given way becomes a turn toward something fashioned or chosen in its place.
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.THE THREAD
And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.The same Hebrew turn-aside root and the same word for “way” recur here, and the verse names the destination: going after other gods. That makes the calf the shape the detour takes, rather than a separate mistake.
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