What Does Leviticus 26:14 Mean?
But if you will not hear and respond to me, and will not do all these commands.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;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
“hear and respond” in this verse is tishme'u. 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
“commands” in this verse is hamitzvot. 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 and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
And it shall be, if you truly hear and respond to the voice of the LORD your God, to guard and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you high above all the 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.
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