What Does Exodus 2:4 Mean?
And his sister stood far off, to know what would be done to him.
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 his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.THE KEY
The distance is a vantage point for care: she stays far enough away to watch and learn what happens to him.
THE MEANING
You can be physically removed from an unfolding danger and still remain attentive to the person inside it. The sister holds her place at a distance for one purpose: to perceive what happens next. Her attention remains with him even where her body cannot be.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that distance always means indifference: here, distance is where attention keeps watch.
THE ROOT
לְדֵעָה
lede'ah
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
to know, recognize, perceive
The archaic phrase “to wit” is an infinitive of yada, “to know” or “perceive.” Her distance is paired with intentional attention: she seeks to know by watching what unfolds.
ALSO GROWS
yada: to know or perceive
יָדַע
This is the same act of knowing named by the purpose clause: she watches in order to know what will happen.
de'ah: knowledge or understanding
דֵּעָה
This related form names what her watching seeks: perception of what is happening to him.
מֵרָחֹק
merachoq
GROWS FROM
רחק
r-ḥ-q
to be distant, or to put something far away
“afar off” in this verse is merachoq. The root names physical remoteness, while the nearby yada names her purpose in that remoteness. The verse lets separation and attentive care coexist.
ALSO GROWS
rachок: far or distant
רָחוֹק
This related form makes clear that her position is physically removed.
hirchiq: to put at a distance
הִרְחִיק
This branch carries the idea of distance being made or maintained, illuminating the deliberate position from which she watches.
THE PATTERN
Attention becomes witness when someone stays focused on a person or event as it unfolds.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you probe me, and you perceive me.And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood facing them from afar off; and the two of them stood at the Jordan.Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you probe me, and you perceive me.The same yada root underlies “to wit” in Exodus and “known” here. The sister watches to know what will happen to him; the psalm speaks of being known through searching attention.
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