What Does Deuteronomy 9:6 Mean in the King James?
Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
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
A good gift is not a verdict that its receiver is righteous: the verse places divine giving beside human stubbornness.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as a receiver of good and, in the same breath, as stiff-necked; the gift does not certify your alignment. Its source remains the LORD, so receiving it does not make it a wage.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The good I receive proves that I earned it through my righteousness.
THE ROOT
צִדְקָתְךָ
tsidqatekha
GROWS FROM
צדק
tsadaq
To be right or just; alignment.
“righteousness” in this verse is tsidqatekha. The verse denies that the good land is payment for the receiver’s alignment. The same root names rightness and the one who is aligned, bringing the question of deserving into the word itself.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
It shows the quality the verse says is not the cause of the gift.
tsaddiq: A person who is right or aligned.
צַדִּיק
It makes clear that the verse is not treating righteousness as a status that earns what is given.
נֹתֵן
noten
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
To give, set, or place.
The verb behind “giveth” also carries the sense of setting or placing. Beside the word for gift, it makes the land’s arrival an act of giving, not a wage earned through alignment.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
It shows the action at the center of the verse: the LORD gives the land.
mattanah: A gift.
מַתָּנָה
It echoes the verb as a gift received rather than a reward produced by the receiver.
קְשֵׁה־עֹרֶף
qesheh oref
GROWS FROM
קשה
qashah
To be hard, difficult, or severe.
The Hebrew phrase pictures a hard neck, a bodily image compressed into the English label “stiffnecked.” Its root also describes what is difficult or hardened, so the verse sets the receiver’s resistance right beside the LORD’s giving.
ALSO GROWS
qasheh: Hard or difficult.
קָשֶׁה
It carries the root’s plain sense into the phrase describing the people.
hiqshah: To make hard or harden.
הִקְשָׁה
It shows the root’s movement from hardness as a quality to hardness as a condition.
THE PATTERN
A gift from God is not a wage for the recipient’s righteousness.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;THE THREAD
He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.Both verses use צְדָקָה (tsedaqah), righteousness or alignment. Deuteronomy denies that alignment is the price of the gift; the Psalm names righteousness as something received from the LORD.
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