What Does Exodus 22:27 Mean?
For it is his only covering, his garment for his skin; in what shall he lie down? And when he cries out to me, I will hear and respond, for I bend toward 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
For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.THE KEY
God’s graciousness is revealed by hearing a cry over a person’s only covering, the sacred concern begins where the body is most exposed.
THE MEANING
The person depends on one covering for clothing and sleep, so the need is bodily and immediate. The cry reaches God, who hears from graciousness that belongs to God’s own nature.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that ordinary material need is too small to matter to God; even the only garment needed for sleep is within the reach of divine hearing.
THE ROOT
חַנּוּן
ḥannūn
GROWS FROM
חנן
ḥānan
to show favor, to be gracious
“bend toward” in this verse is ḥannūn. חַנּוּן (ḥannūn, gracious) names the one who shows favor; the same root appears in וְחָנַנְתִּי (wĕḥānantî, and I will show favor). Here, graciousness is not detached from the cry: the one who hears acts from a nature already turned toward favor.
ALSO GROWS
ḥānan: to show favor, to be gracious
חָנַן
The verb makes favor an action, illuminating how hearing the cry expresses graciousness.
wĕḥānantî: and I will show favor
וְחָנַנְתִּי
This form joins favor to a first-person promise, echoing the verse’s assurance, “I will hear.”
וְשָׁמַעְתִּי
wĕšāmaʿtî
GROWS FROM
שמע
šāmaʿ
to hear, listen, attend
“hear and respond” in this verse is wĕšāmaʿtî. The root שמע (šāmaʿ, hear) can carry the force of attending and responding, not merely registering sound. In this verse, hearing follows a cry and stands beside “I am gracious,” making attention itself an expression of favor.
ALSO GROWS
šĕmaʿ: hear, listen
שְׁמַע
The direct command to hear shows the root’s emphasis on attentive listening.
šĕmûʿāh: report, news, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch makes hearing the passage through which a cry becomes known.
יִצְעַק
yiṣʿaq
GROWS FROM
צעק
ṣāʿaq
to cry out, call aloud
“cries out” in this verse is yiṣʿaq. The root צעק (ṣāʿaq, cry out) names a voice forced into the open by need. The verse places that cry directly before hearing, so the exposed person’s distress is neither muted nor overlooked.
ALSO GROWS
ṣĕʿāqāh: a cry, an outcry
צְעָקָה
The noun gives the cry a lasting presence; it is something heard, not a sound that disappears.
wayyiṣʿaq: and he cried out
וַיִּצְעַק
This verbal form shows the root as the act of calling aloud when need presses for attention.
THE PATTERN
A cry from exposed need reaches God, whose hearing leads toward protection and release.
The aligned cry out, and the LORD hears, and snatches them out of all their narrow places.Look, the wages of the workers who mowed your fields, stripped away by your fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have gone into the ears of the LORD of hosts.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.Exodus 3:7 repeats the roots שמע (šāmaʿ, hear) and צעק (ṣāʿaq, cry out). Their pairing shows a cry rising from constriction and entering divine attention, where hearing opens the way toward release.
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