What Does Leviticus 26:14 Mean in the King James?
But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
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 fracture named here is a double refusal: the voice is not received, and the instruction is not embodied.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you now about refusing both to hear God and to carry the full instruction into action. The warning turns on that whole break between receiving the voice and responding to it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing God’s instruction is complete even when it leaves your life untouched.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמְעוּ
tishme'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
hear, listen, and respond
The Hebrew verb can carry hearing into response, while English “hearken” can sound like listening alone. Here that response is made visible by the next verb: doing the instruction.
ALSO GROWS
shomea: one who hears
שֹׁמֵעַ
The hearer is defined by the same root, linking reception of the voice to the person who responds.
shemuah: report or news heard
שְׁמוּעָה
What reaches the ear as a report can call for a response; the root holds hearing and its consequence together.
תַעֲשׂוּ
ta'asu
GROWS FROM
עשה
asah
do, make, carry out
“do” in this verse is ta'asu. The verse pairs hearing with action: the voice is received, then its instruction takes form in what is done. This root also names acts and works, showing that the response has a lived shape.
ALSO GROWS
ma'aseh: deed, act, or work
מַעֲשֶׂה
A deed is an instance of what the root describes: doing brought into a concrete act.
oseh: one who does or makes
עוֹשֶׂה
This form names the doer, making the verse’s second refusal about action, not merely intention.
הַמִּצְוֹת
hamitzvot
GROWS FROM
צוה
tsavah
command, direct, charge
The commandments are linked to the act of directing or charging someone. The verse names refusal of the whole charge, not a single isolated instruction.
ALSO GROWS
tsivvah: he commanded
צִוָּה
This verb shares the root with “commandments,” making explicit the act that gives the instructions their form.
metzuvveh: one who is commanded or charged
מְצֻוֶּה
This branch shows the relationship between an instruction and the person who receives it.
THE PATTERN
Hearing God’s voice is shown as a movement that continues into response and action.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:Both verses hinge on שָׁמַע (shama, hear and respond) and עָשָׂה (asah, do), joining reception of the voice to action. This verse gives the affirmative counterpart to Leviticus’s double refusal, making that paired movement the hinge of the warning.
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