What Does Deuteronomy 9:8 Mean in the King James?
Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed 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 Hebrew stacks provocation and a second flare of anger, then names the consequence plainly: destruction.
THE MEANING
This verse places you before the full force of a rupture: the LORD’s anger is not left as inward displeasure but reaches toward destroying you. The words hold that threat in plain view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that divine anger here means only mild displeasure falls away: the verse explicitly names destruction as its aim.
THE ROOT
הִקְצַפְתֶּם
hiqtsaphtem
GROWS FROM
קצף
To burst out in anger; to provoke to wrath.
The verb is causative: “you provoked” means you brought the flare of anger about. Its noun branch names that same force as wrath, keeping the provocation and response in one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
qatsaph: To be angry or rage.
קָצַף
The verb names the anger the people provoke, making the action more forceful than a vague offense.
qetseph: Wrath or anger.
קֶצֶף
The related noun makes the root’s anger explicit in “provoked … to wrath.”
וַיִּתְאַנַּף
wayyit'annaph
GROWS FROM
אנף
To be angry; to flare with anger.
A second, distinct anger verb follows the language of provocation. It echoes אַף (af), which can mean nose or nostril as well as anger, giving the flare a bodily image beneath the English word “angry.”
ALSO GROWS
hit'annēph: To become angry or flare up.
הִתְאַנֵּף
This form of the same verb keeps anger as an active flare, not merely a settled judgment.
af: Nose, nostril; also anger or heat.
אַף
The shared sound and sense preserve the nostril image inside the verse’s second anger verb.
לְהַשְׁמִיד
lehashmid
GROWS FROM
שׁמד
To destroy, bring to ruin, or eradicate.
“destroyed” in this verse is lehashmid. The word does not leave the result at anger: its root names destruction itself. The Hebrew makes the consequence concrete and keeps the destructive action visible.
ALSO GROWS
hishmid: To destroy or exterminate.
הִשְׁמִיד
This causative form names the threatened act of bringing another to ruin.
nishmad: To be destroyed or perish.
נִשְׁמַד
This passive form shows the same root from the side of the one who undergoes destruction.
THE PATTERN
When divine anger is named, Scripture preserves its destructive consequence rather than reducing it to an empty figure.
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.THE THREAD
Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.The same root, שׁמד (shamad), appears in “destroy them,” making explicit the destructive force already present in verse 8. “Blot out their name” extends the threat to their continuing presence and remembrance.
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