What Does Exodus 18:6 Mean?
And he said to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you, and your wife, and her two sons with her.
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 he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.THE KEY
This is not one man arriving alone: Jethro names the bonds and people his arrival carries with it.
THE MEANING
An arrival can bring a whole network of belonging into view. Jethro identifies himself through his bond to Moses, then names Moses’ wife and her two sons as part of the meeting. The verse lets you see relationship gathered together in one moment of presence.
THE ROOT
בָּא
bāʾ
GROWS FROM
בוא
b-w-ʾ
To come, enter, or arrive.
“have come” in this verse is bāʾ. The word carries the sense of arriving into someone’s space, not merely moving toward them. Here, the arrival opens into a meeting that includes the people and bonds named alongside Jethro.
ALSO GROWS
bo: To come or enter.
בּוֹא
This is the verb used for Jethro’s coming to Moses.
mavo: An entrance or approach.
מָבוֹא
The same root can name the way into a place, bringing a threshold image to Jethro’s arrival.
חֹתֶנְךָ
ḥotenkha
GROWS FROM
חתן
ḥ-t-n
To form a family bond through marriage.
The Hebrew term for father-in-law belongs to the same root as words for a bridegroom and a wedding. Jethro identifies himself through the marriage bond that connects him to Moses, so the arrival is framed by kinship.
ALSO GROWS
ḥātān: Bridegroom or son-in-law.
חָתָן
This related word shows the root’s connection to family ties formed through marriage.
ḥatunnāh: Wedding or marriage.
חֲתֻנָּה
This branch names the marriage bond at the center of Jethro’s relationship to Moses.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מָשָׁה
m-sh-h
To draw out or pull out, especially from water.
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. The name Mosheh carries the meaning ‘drawn out,’ as the naming scene in Exodus explains. Here, the one drawn out is the person his family comes to meet.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out or pull out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb behind Moses’ name.
meshītihū: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in Exodus 2:10 when Pharaoh’s daughter explains the name Moses.
THE PATTERN
An arrival can bring an entire circle of kin into one person’s presence.
And Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet Israel his father. He let himself be seen by him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a long while.And on the next day they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his kinsmen and the friends bound close to him.THE THREAD
And the man came into the house; and he unbound his camels, and gave straw and fodder for the camels, and waters to wash his feet, and the feet of the men who were with him.The same root, בוא (bāʾ, to come or enter), describes the servant’s arrival into the house. In Exodus, the coming opens into a meeting shaped by kinship, with Jethro naming the family who belongs in Moses’ presence.
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