What Does Exodus 3:18 Mean?
And they shall hear and respond to your voice. Then you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us. And now let us go, please, a three days' road into the wilderness, that we may slaughter to the LORD our God.
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 they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.THE KEY
The first sign of freedom is shama, hearing that answers, gathering a people into one shared approach.
THE MEANING
Here, hearing becomes visible as response: the voice gathers elders into a shared approach, and an encounter with the LORD becomes a request spoken together. The requested space is concrete, a journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice, so the encounter takes shape in a communal act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing is passive reception: here, the voice is heard through a people’s movement and answer.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁמְעוּ
wəšāməʿû
GROWS FROM
שמע
hear, listen, heed, and respond
English “hearken” can sound like attentive listening alone, but שָׁמַע (shama, hear and respond) includes the answer that follows reception. The elders’ hearing already begins the shared response described in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen and heed.
שְׁמַע
The imperative makes hearing an active response, not just the reception of sound.
shemu’ah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The voice becomes a report the elders can carry and speak together.
נִקְרָה
niqrah
GROWS FROM
קרא
call, proclaim, summon; in this form, meet or encounter
“met with us” in this verse is niqrah. The Hebrew verb rendered “met” is נִקְרָה (niqrah, met or encountered), from קרא (qara, call or proclaim). The shared seed joins encounter with calling and public speech: the meeting is carried into a message spoken before the king.
ALSO GROWS
qara: To call out, proclaim, or summon.
קָרָא
The encounter is immediately given voice in the message addressed to the king.
miqra: A calling together; a public reading or assembly.
מִקְרָא
This branch echoes the verse’s movement from encounter into a message carried by the elders together.
וְנִזְבְּחָה
wənizbəḥāh
GROWS FROM
זבח
slaughter, especially for sacrifice
“slaughter to” in this verse is wənizbəḥāh. English “sacrifice” can hide the physical act; זבח (zabach, slaughter or sacrifice) keeps slaughter within the word. Its branch מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach, altar) names the place from the same root, so the requested worship has material form.
ALSO GROWS
zebaḥ: A slaughtered offering or sacrifice.
זֶבַח
It keeps the request grounded in a specific act rather than an abstract expression of devotion.
mizbeach: An altar, named from the root of slaughtering or sacrifice.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The same root links the act requested here with the place where it is enacted.
THE PATTERN
A voice truly heard becomes a shared response that carries encounter into concrete action.
Draw near, and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you. We will hear and respond, and we will do it.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.When they heard this, they were pierced in the heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the sent ones, Men and brothers, what shall we do?THE THREAD
And the people leaned their weight on it, and they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their bending low. Then they bent their heads and bowed down.Exodus 4:31 uses וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ (vayishme’u, they heard) from שָׁמַע (shama, hear and respond), the same seed as “hearken” here. Their hearing moves into bowing and worship, making visible the response this verse holds in its opening verb.
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