What Does Exodus 10:26 Mean?
Our livestock also will go with us. Not one hoof shall be left, for from it we will take to serve the LORD our God. And we do not know with what we will serve the LORD until we come there.
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
Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither.THE KEY
The refusal to leave even one hoof behind follows from an unknown: the means of service must travel because its exact demands become clear only upon arrival.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you where the next use of what you carry is still unknown. The whole provision moves with you, and what service requires comes into view as you arrive before the LORD.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must know in advance exactly what God will ask of you before you can move; here, that knowledge comes only upon arrival.
THE ROOT
לֹא נֵדַע
lō nēdaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive; here, the phrase means “we do not know.”
“know not” in this verse is lō nēdaʿ. The uncertainty is specific: they do not know what form the service will take, not whether they will serve. The root brings forward a knowing that comes through encounter, rather than a complete plan possessed in advance.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge
דַּעַת
It shares the root of “know,” showing that the unknown form of service is what remains to be known.
mōdaʿ: Acquaintance or kinsman
מוֹדָע
This branch links knowing with recognition and relationship, deepening the sense that knowledge can arise through meeting.
לַעֲבֹד
laʿavod
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work or serve.
English can make “serve” sound like a religious task set apart from ordinary work, while this root holds work and service together. The cattle are not incidental to worship: their material capacity belongs to the service, though its exact use is not yet known.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant
עֶבֶד
The same root names the one who serves, linking service to a lived relationship rather than an abstract act.
ʿavodah: Work or service
עֲבֹדָה
This branch holds labor and service together, exposing the breadth hidden by the English word “serve.”
מִקְנֵנוּ
miqnenū
GROWS FROM
קנה
To acquire or possess.
The cattle are described with a word for acquired possessions: what they have is also part of what must go with them. The verse presents departure as carrying the means of life toward a use that is still undisclosed.
ALSO GROWS
qānāh: To acquire or buy
קָנָה
It makes clear that the cattle are what has been acquired and held.
qinyan: Acquisition or possession
קִנְיָן
This related noun reinforces that their possessions are not left outside the movement toward service.
THE PATTERN
The whole provision moves toward service before its exact form is known, and arrival discloses what that service requires.
By trust Abraham, called to go out into a place he would receive as an inheritance, heard and responded, and went out, not knowing where he was going.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
By trust Abraham, called to go out into a place he would receive as an inheritance, heard and responded, and went out, not knowing where he was going.Both verses place movement before complete knowledge: here, the means of service travel because their use is not yet known, and Hebrews describes a departure without knowing the destination. Together they show arrival bringing the unknown requirement into view.
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