What Does Exodus 3:22 Mean?
But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of the one who sojourns in her house, vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments. And you shall place them upon your sons and upon your daughters, and you shall strip the Egyptians.
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
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.THE KEY
The women’s “borrowing” is an asking that ends in the stripping of Mitzrayim, so release here carries actual wealth out of constriction.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of release reaching the household: women ask, children wear silver, gold, and garments, and Egypt is stripped. Freedom here includes material provision, while the taking itself remains stark.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that people can be released and still be left materially empty.
THE ROOT
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צ־ר־ר
ts-r-r
To press in, bind, or make narrow.
“Egyptians” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim carries the image of constriction. The verse’s wealth transfer makes departure from that narrowness tangible: the people leave carrying goods, and Egypt is stripped.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, tight, constricted.
צַר
This is the narrowness carried in the name Mitzrayim.
metsar: A narrow place or strait; by extension, distress.
מֵצַר
It gives constriction a lived shape: a place with too little room, from which the people depart.
וְשָׁאֲלָה
ve-sha'alah
GROWS FROM
ש־א־ל
sh-ʾ-l
To ask or request.
“ask” in this verse is ve-sha'alah. The Hebrew centers the women’s asking: they actively request silver, gold, and garments. The movement from request to possession is part of how the verse portrays release.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
It makes explicit the asking held inside the KJV’s “borrow.”
Sha'ul: “Asked for”; a name formed from this root.
שָׁאוּל
The same root can describe something sought through asking, echoing the women’s active request.
וְנִצַּלְתֶּם
ve-nitsaltem
GROWS FROM
נ־צ־ל
n-ts-l
To snatch away, rescue, or strip away.
“strip” in this verse is ve-nitsaltem. This root can describe rescue and stripping away. Here the text keeps the material transfer visible: the people leave with Egypt’s silver, gold, and garments, while Egypt is plundered.
ALSO GROWS
hitsil: He rescued or delivered.
הִצִּיל
The rescue sense shows how the root can name removal from danger or constraint.
nitsal: He escaped or was delivered.
נִצַּל
This branch holds release as something taken out of a constricting situation.
THE PATTERN
Release from deprivation is made visible when material goods move toward those leaving empty-handed.
And when you send him out unbound from you, you shall not send him away empty. You shall lavish upon him from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him.He brought them out with silver and gold, and among his tribes there was not one stumbling.And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them among all, as each one had need.THE THREAD
And the LORD gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they lent them what they asked. And they stripped the Egyptians.The Hebrew repeats both roots: the people ask for what they require, and the Egyptians are stripped of what they give. This verse makes explicit how the asking becomes a transfer of wealth.
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