What Does Psalm 106:28 Mean in the King James?
They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
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 verse makes allegiance bodily: the bond to Baal-peor leads straight to eating sacrifices belonging to the dead.
THE MEANING
When you bind yourself to a power, the bond does not stay abstract; it carries you into its table and its practices. This verse names that table with starkness: a meal of sacrifices belonging to the dead. What you attach yourself to reaches what you receive into yourself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that you can attach yourself to a power without participating in what it serves.
THE ROOT
וַיִּצָּמְדוּ
vayyitsamdu
GROWS FROM
צמד
ṣ-m-d
To join, bind, or yoke together.
“joined themselves” in this verse is vayyitsamdu. This verb is stronger than casual association: it pictures a bound pair. The verse shows that the bond carries through to the meal that follows.
ALSO GROWS
tsemed: A pair or yoke team.
צֶמֶד
This branch pictures joining as a matched bond, giving the verse’s allegiance the force of being hitched to something.
tsamid: A bracelet or armlet.
צָמִיד
The word carries the sense of something fastened to the body; here, attachment reaches beyond the body’s surface to shape what is taken in.
זִבְחֵי
zivchei
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter or offer in sacrifice.
“sacrifices” in this verse is zivchei. The root holds slaughter and offering together, linking this meal to an act of sacrifice. The verse presents the food as part of a bond with Baal-peor, not as an ordinary meal.
ALSO GROWS
zevach: A sacrifice or sacrificial meal.
זֶבַח
The same word family joins offering and meal, echoing the verse’s movement from joining to eating.
mizbeach: An altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar belongs to the same sacrificial word family, showing how the offering and the place of offering are linked.
מֵתִים
metim
GROWS FROM
מות
m-w-t
To die or be dead.
The Hebrew word for the dead shares its root with the act of dying and with death itself. Set beside eating, the phrase makes the dead the stated source of the meal.
ALSO GROWS
mavet: Death.
מָוֶת
The noun names the condition that the sacrifices in this verse are associated with.
mut: To die.
מוּת
The verb names the movement into death, sharing its root with the dead whose sacrifices are eaten.
THE PATTERN
What you bind yourself to shapes what you take in and what you become.
And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.The Hebrew verb for “joined himself” is the same in both verses, describing a bound attachment to Baal-peor. Numbers states the bond; Psalm 106 follows it into the shared meal.
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