"thou shalt surely die"

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Singular or Plural?

Basically, in the language of the KJV and later, thou, thee, thy and thine are singular, referring to a singular individual, as I, he, she and it do; ye, you and your. These distinctions are preserved in poetical usage right into the 20th or even 21st Century, and also occur in English dialects. This is a reason why KJV and RV are convenient to use in this wiki: it saves a lot of footnotes saying sg. or pl.

Less basically, plural forms can be used as honorifics — as a sign of respect to the single person addressed. This was common in the early 17th Century: King James' translators addressed him as "Your Majesty" in their Epistle Dedicatory — but it would have seemed too modern or informal for use in Scripture. Later on "you" was used so much that it became normal, and "thou" and "thee" became intimate, dismissive, or rude depending on context. (See my personal anecdote about "thou" at Sutherland ecclesia here. — BP)

Significance in Genesis

"Thou shalt surely die! is singular, reflecting the Hebrew. It refers only to the individual addressed; but in Adam's case, the individual represents humanity. Genesis 2:15-17 is about this individual man called "Man" who represents humanity.

Occurrences

Adam and Eve

Genesis 2:17
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

See at Genesis 2:15-18.

Genesis 3:4
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

See at Genesis 3:2-7, 11-12, 22-23.

Other

Genesis 20:7

7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. (KJV)

1 Samuel 14:44

44 And Saul answered, God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan. (KJV)

1 Samuel 22:16

16 And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.

1 Kings 2:37

37 For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.

1 Kings 2:42

42 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the Lord, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good.

2 Kings 1:4,6,16

4 Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. 5 And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back? 6 And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. . . . 
16 And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

Jeremiah 26:8

8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

Ezekiel 3:18

18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Ezekiel 33:8,14

8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.. . . 
14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Interpretations

There have been various interpretations of this two-word phrase מוֹת תָּמוּת (moth tamuth).

(1) A death sentence with no chance of pardon

"We will first consider the second clause, “dying thou shalt die.” Some consider these words to have found verification on the day Adam sinned, by his becoming a corruptible creature, and ultimately dying. This, however, is not so. We have the Hebrew word “to die” repeated in two moods: the infinitive ( moth ) and the indicative ( tamuth ); moth, to die—dying; tamuth—thou shalt die. As the words stand, certainty is implied, and nothing more; so the authorised version is not far wrong in rendering the words, “thou shalt surely die.” It is out of the question to suppose that a process of decay is implied in the words, for they were afterwards used to one of the descendants of Adam—Shimei (1 Kings 2:37,42), and we have no record of Shimei having occupied a similar relation to life and death to that which Adam sustained before the fall. If it had been intended to express a continued or lasting process, the order of the Hebrew words would have been reversed. Shimei was mortal at the time of the threat which was couched in the strong terms, “thou shalt certainly die.” Upon these words, also, all the emphasis rested in the charge made to Adam and Eve. Ostervald was not far wrong when, in his French Bible, in these verses in Kings he rendered moth tamuth : “tu mourras sans rémission”—thou shalt die without chance of pardon. The same Hebrew words might be similarly rendered in Genesis 2:17."

—  J. W. Thirtle, The Christadelphian Magazine 17:26 (1880)

Bro J W Thirtle goes on to offer examples of various translations of b'yom, rendered as "in the day" in the KJV, and concludes:

It seems clear that the Creator used b’yom in the sense in which it is found to have been used generally, and that He carried out to the letter the threat He made, which threat we have no doubt is in meaning something very near our English: “For when (or, after that) thou hast eaten thereof, thou shalt die without chance of pardon.” This leaves no room for the spiritual death of which some speak and write so much.

Comment: "no chance of pardon" is contradicted in Ezekiel 33:14 above. Whether or not this is the correct understanding in the Eden passage in Genesis, it cannot be intrinsic to the words themselves. — Bruce

(2) Certain, immediate death

(3) A transition to a new state of mortality

(Ken Gilmore disagrees with this on his blog) and in his notes on the Challenges to Faith Conference — Ron Cowie: "Theistic Evolution".

(4) Miraculous and physical

  • (Contrary view:) See bro Thirtle's words above, arguing that it is out of the question to suppose that a process of decay is implied in the words "thou shalt surely die" in Genesis 2:17.

(5) Psychological

Other