What Does Numbers 21:34 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
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 command against fear rests on a completed act of giving: the threat is already placed into Moses’ hand.
THE MEANING
When threat fills your field of vision, this verse places beside it a declaration that the threat is already handed over. Its assurance is stark: it names conquest and an enemy treated as Sihon was, so its force does not depend on making the violence gentle.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a threat’s visible force means it holds the final word; the verse sets that fear against a declaration of God’s completed action.
THE ROOT
נָתַתִּי
nātattî
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place
The Hebrew verb means “I have given” or “I have placed”; “delivered” carries the image of handing an opponent into another’s possession. “Into thy hand” makes that placement concrete: the feared king’s position has shifted before the action happens.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: Give, set, place
נָתַן
The root’s ordinary range keeps the verse’s image visible: the threat is placed into the hand.
mattānāh: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This related noun carries the same root of giving, even though what is given here is an enemy and his land.
תִּירָא
tîrāʾ
GROWS FROM
ירא
Fear, dread, stand in awe
Here fear is directed toward Og, a human adversary; the root does not make the danger unreal. The same root can also describe awe toward God, showing how the object of fear changes what the response means.
ALSO GROWS
yārēʾ: Fear, stand in awe
יָרֵא
The verb names the response the verse addresses directly.
yirʾāh: Fear, awe
יִרְאָה
The related noun holds dread and awe within the same root, with the one feared shaping the sense.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōsheh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
Draw out, pull from water
Moses’ name carries the image of one drawn out from water. Here the one drawn out receives a word that places an overwhelming opponent into his hand.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: Draw out
מָשָׁה
The verb holds the action embedded in Moses’ name.
Mōsheh: Moses; the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name recalls a life shaped by being drawn from danger, now facing a different threat.
THE PATTERN
The command not to fear rests on a declaration of God’s action toward the threat.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.The same Hebrew verb נתן (natan, “give” or “place”) underlies “delivered” in both verses. Their near-verbatim echo makes the image plain: the enemy is described as placed into a hand as the ground for “fear not.”
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