I haue not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither haue I taken away ought thereof for any vncleane vse, nor giuen ought thereof for the dead: but I haue hearkened to the voyce of the Lord my God, and haue done according to all that thou hast commaunded me. Deuteronomy 26:14 (KJV)
The passage often cited as a biblical quotation—“I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.”—is frequently presented as a direct scriptural statement. It is presented in a form that suggests a single, uninterrupted verse.
However, the same wording does not appear verbatim in any verse of the King James Version of the Bible. The exact sequence of words, as quoted, is not found as a single continuous passage in the KJV text. The quotation is therefore a composite rendering rather than a literal excerpt.
The source of the language is Deuteronomy 26:14, where the covenantal declaration includes similar elements concerning abstaining from certain uses of the tithe, honoring the dead, and obeying the voice of the LORD. The cited quotation draws heavily on that verse, yet rearranges and condenses the phrasing in a way that differs from the original KJV rendering. Consequently, while the ideas expressed are rooted in the biblical text, the specific formulation quoted is not a direct, verbatim citation from the King James Version.
Recognizing this distinction helps readers understand the difference between a faithful quotation and a paraphrased or compiled statement that reflects the spirit of the original passage without reproducing its exact wording.
