What Does Leviticus 26:6 Mean in the King James?
And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
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
Peace here is wholeness made physical: the land is safe enough for the body to lie down.
THE MEANING
Wholeness reaches the ground around you: you can lie down without someone rousing fear in you, with dangerous beasts absent and the sword unable to cross the land. The verse describes peace as safety you can inhabit, down to the body’s rest.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that rest requires constant vigilance: the verse names danger itself being removed, so rest is not mere distraction from threat.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shālôm
GROWS FROM
שלם
š-l-m
Wholeness, completeness, intact well-being
The verse’s shalom is wholeness in the land, with rest, freedom from fear, and protection from beasts and sword unfolding as its visible signs. The same root can name what is whole and what is made good through recompense, so peace here carries the sense of order restored.
ALSO GROWS
shālēm: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This form makes shalom’s safety a condition of intactness: the land and its inhabitants are no longer fractured by threat.
shillēm: To repay, recompense, or make restitution
שִׁלֵּם
The root also names settling what is owed or restoring what is due, giving shalom the shade of a repaired condition.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness becomes visible when rest is safe and danger no longer governs the ground.
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.THE THREAD
And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.The Hebrew repeats שָׁלוֹם (shālôm, wholeness), and the surrounding promise repeats the removal of beasts, safe dwelling, and sleep. This makes the verse’s peace tangible: wholeness shows up as a land where fear and violence no longer pass through.
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