What Does Deuteronomy 6:22 Mean?
And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and painful, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes.
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 the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:THE KEY
Egypt’s name carries the image of two narrows, and the signs make that constriction visible before the witnesses’ eyes.
THE MEANING
You stand among the witnesses: the LORD’s signs bring the reach of constricting power, Egypt, Pharaoh, and his household, into view. The verse holds that no ruler’s grasp is beyond the sight and action of God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that a ruler’s power is absolute and can never be exposed or answered.
THE ROOT
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צרר
To bind, press, or confine; it carries the sense of narrowing expressed in tsar.
Mitzrayim is read as the two narrows, so Egypt names constriction as well as a place. With Pharaoh and his household named within it, the signs expose that grip as visible and answerable.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, constricted
צַר
This is the narrowness carried in Egypt’s name.
metzar: A strait or narrow place
מֵצַר
It gives the image of a life pressed into tightness that the signs bring into view.
Mitzrayim: Egypt; read as the two narrows
מִצְרַיִם
The name gathers the verse’s setting into the image of constriction.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
The Hebrew verb beneath “shewed” is natan, “gave”: the signs are placed before the witnesses as something they receive. The verse makes revelation a shared, visible witness.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
Here the LORD gives signs and wonders into the witnesses’ sight.
mattanah: A gift
מַתָּנָה
The related word shows how giving can name something received.
netinah: A giving or grant
נְתִינָה
It echoes the act of placing something into another’s hands.
THE PATTERN
God’s action becomes visible through deeds that expose domination and give witnesses something to see.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.They set among them the words of his signs and wonders in the land of Ham.Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man shown forth by God among you through works of strength and wonders and signs, which God did through him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.THE THREAD
Or has God tried to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great awe, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?This verse repeats “signs and wonders” and “before your eyes,” then names the signs as part of being brought out of Egypt. It opens this verse further: what stands before your eyes is a visible trace of release from the narrow.
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