What Does Deuteronomy 31:30 Mean?
And Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete.
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
And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.THE KEY
The Hebrew root links “he spoke” and “words,” showing the song is not decoration around the message but the message carried into every ear.
THE MEANING
You meet the words as a song voiced into hearing: they pass through one voice into the ears of the whole assembly, and the speaking continues until it is complete. The song and its words are one act of communication, not separate layers.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that a song is only decoration around a message: here the song itself carries the words.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
waydabbēr
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; word.
“spake / words” in this verse is waydabbēr. The verse uses two forms of the same root for “he spoke” and “words.” English separates the act from its content; Hebrew keeps them joined as one movement of speech.
ALSO GROWS
dibbēr: He spoke
דִּבֵּר
This is the speaking that carries the song into the assembly’s hearing.
dāvar: Word
דָּבָר
The “words” of the song share their root with the act of speaking them.
הַשִּׁירָה
hashirah
GROWS FROM
שיר
Sing; song.
The word for “song” comes from a root that carries both singing and song. Here, even as Moses speaks it, the words remain song: voiced expression carries the message into shared hearing.
ALSO GROWS
shir: Song
שִׁיר
This is the noun used for the song whose words are spoken to the assembly.
yashir: He will sing
יָשִׁיר
The verb and the song share one root, holding the act of voicing and what is voiced together.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
Draw out, especially from water.
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. Moshe’s name is linked in Exodus 2:10 to being drawn out of the water. Here, the one named “drawn out” gives voice to a song before the whole assembly, placing that name-nature alongside words carried into shared hearing.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out
מָשָׁה
This is the root associated with the meaning of Moses’ name.
Mosheh: Moses; the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name itself carries the root’s image into the verse.
THE PATTERN
A message reaches a people through being voiced for all to hear.
And he called aloud from it before the wide place that was before the gate of the waters, from first light until the middle of the day, facing the men and the women, and those who could tell the difference, and the ears of all the people were turned toward the book of the instruction.Come, let us ring out to the LORD, and let us shout to the rock of our deliverance.Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and songs of breath, singing and plucking the strings in your heart to the Lord.THE THREAD
Now therefore write this song for you, and teach it to the children of Israel; set it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.Both verses use שִׁירָה (shirah, song). In 31:19 the song is placed in the people’s mouths; here it is spoken into the ears of the whole assembly, linking voiced expression with shared hearing.
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