What Does Deuteronomy 5:22 Mean?
These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and he added nothing more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me.
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
These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.THE KEY
The voice stops, yet דָּבָר (davar, word/matter) takes form in stone and is placed in human hands.
THE MEANING
You meet words that are spoken openly, brought to an end, written, and entrusted to a bearer. Their presence does not depend on the voice continuing; they arrive in a bounded form that can be carried.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a word disappears when its voice falls silent is undone here: the speech ends, then the words are written and handed on.
THE ROOT
הַדְּבָרִים
haddevarim
GROWS FROM
דבר
דבר (d-b-r): speak; word; matter or thing.
דָּבָר (davar) can mean “word” or “matter,” while דִּבֵּר (dibber) means “to speak”; the utterance and what is spoken belong to one consonantal family. Here the spoken words are also written and given, so what is heard becomes something materially carried.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word; matter or thing.
דָּבָר
The words spoken in the verse become a written object that can be carried.
dibber: Spoke; to speak.
דִּבֵּר
This verb names the speaking that becomes writing and transmission in the verse.
וַיִּתְּנֵם
vayyittenem
GROWS FROM
נתן
נתן (n-t-n): give, set, or place.
“delivered” in this verse is vayyittenem. The words are not only preserved; they are placed into someone’s hands. This root holds giving and placing together, making the final action a transfer of what has been spoken and written.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
It is the verb behind the handing over at the end of the verse.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun shows the root’s giving sense: what is entrusted is received.
יָסָף
yasaf
GROWS FROM
יסף
יסף (y-s-f): add or continue.
“added nothing more” in this verse is yasaf. The phrase marks a stopping point: no further words are added, and the account turns directly to inscription and handoff. The speech reaches its limit, while its written form remains to be carried.
ALSO GROWS
hosif: Added; caused to increase.
הוֹסִיף
This form of the root makes the idea of adding explicit, clarifying the force of “he added no more.”
tosefet: Addition; supplement.
תּוֹסֶפֶת
This noun names what the verse says does not follow: an added word or supplement.
THE PATTERN
The spoken word becomes a durable witness when it is written and carried beyond the moment of speech.
And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, two tablets of the witness, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tablets, so that the one who calls it out may run.You are made visible as the letter of the Anointed One, served by us, written not with ink but with the breath of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart.THE THREAD
And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.“These words,” דְּבָרִים (devarim), shares the root דבר (d-b-r) with the words spoken here. Deuteronomy 5:22 places them on stone and gives them to Moses; this verse carries those words into the heart.
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