What Does Deuteronomy 3:1 Mean?
Then we turned our faces and climbed the way to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.
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
Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb for “come out” here also names going out elsewhere: emergence itself carries no promise of safety.
THE MEANING
You are on a way that meets an organized force coming out against you. The verse names both your forward motion and the resistance in front of it, while leaving the outcome open.
THE ROOT
וַיֵּצֵא
vayyēṣēʾ
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
to go out, come forth
“came out against” in this verse is vayyēṣēʾ. The root יצא names Og’s emergence against you here and Israel’s going out in Exodus 14:8. The root describes movement outward; who moves and where they are headed determine whether that movement confronts or frees.
ALSO GROWS
yetzi’ah: departure, going out
יְצִיאָה
This noun from the same root makes the link to “going out” visible: the root names an emergence, whether it is a departure or an arrival into confrontation.
hotsi: to bring out
הוֹצִיא
This causative form shares the root and describes one agent bringing another out, as in the language of deliverance from constriction.
THE PATTERN
Movement into what lies ahead can meet resistance before the outcome is visible.
Then Sihon came out to meet us, he and all his people, for battle at Jahaz.And the LORD strengthened the heart of the Great House, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a lifted hand.Look, I send you as sheep among wolves; be therefore wise as serpents, and unmixed as doves.THE THREAD
And the LORD strengthened the heart of the Great House, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a lifted hand.The “went out” in Exodus and Og’s “came out” here share the root יצא (yatsa, go out or come forth). The root marks outward movement; its direction and agent reveal whether that movement is departure or confrontation.
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