What Does Exodus 20:7 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
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
To take the LORD’s name is to carry the nature it names, so bearing it emptily makes the name itself a false claim.
THE MEANING
You bear the LORD’s name as more than a label: the Hebrew verb for “take” also means to lift, carry, or bear, and shem (שֵׁם, shem) is name as nature. Shav (שָׁוְא, shav) holds emptiness and falsehood, so the warning reaches beyond a careless syllable to a name made empty by false representation. The verse speaks now: what you claim in God’s name carries weight and consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The name of God is only a sacred label, so speaking it falsely has no connection to how I represent God.
THE ROOT
נָשָׂא
nasa
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, or bear.
The verb translated “take” pictures lifting and carrying the name. With shem (שֵׁם, shem: name as nature), the phrase reveals a person bearing what the name represents, not merely pronouncing a label.
ALSO GROWS
nasi: A leader or prince; one lifted up.
נָשִׂיא
The branch links bearing with a role or standing that others can see.
massa: A burden or load; also an oracle or message.
מַשָּׂא
What is carried can have weight, or be a message carried to others; the name is not weightless when borne.
שָׁוְא
shav
GROWS FROM
שוא
Emptiness, falsehood, or what is without substance.
Shav gives “in vain” the sense of emptiness or falseness. Joined to the idea of carrying a name, it reveals the fracture between invoking a nature and representing it falsely.
ALSO GROWS
lashav: For nothing, emptily, or falsely.
לַשָּׁוְא
The same word with a prefix describes an act that carries no truth or substance.
sho': Ruin, devastation, or desolation.
שֹׁוא
This related form shows how emptiness can become destructive, giving consequence to the warning about a name borne falsely.
THE PATTERN
A name is carried through what a person represents, so invoking it falsely empties a name whose nature is meant to be visible.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?THE THREAD
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.This verse holds together the LORD’s release of crookedness, rebellion, and missing with the refusal to declare the guilty clear. It opens Exodus 20:7 as a warning about the weight of the nature the name represents, not merely the sound of the name.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us