What Does Exodus 34:31 Mean?
And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the lifted ones of the assembly turned back to him, and Moses spoke with them.
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 Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.THE KEY
The one named “drawn out” calls others back across distance until retreat becomes conversation.
THE MEANING
A call is met with return, and the return opens conversation. The movement is from distance toward renewed address, where presence becomes possible again in speech.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that once people withdraw, the relationship is over and meaningful conversation cannot resume.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
vayyashuvu
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back, return.
“turned back” in this verse is vayyashuvu. English “returned” can sound like mere relocation, but shuv carries the sense of turning back toward someone. Its branches can name return or turning away, revealing that the direction of movement changes the relationship.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The same root makes return a changed direction, not simply arriving at a place.
meshubah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch names movement away; the rulers’ return reverses that direction toward Moses.
וַיִּקְרָא
vayyiqra
GROWS FROM
קָרָא
qara
Call out, summon, proclaim.
“called” in this verse is vayyiqra. The root’s branches include both calling and gathering. Here the voice does more than address individuals: it draws them back into a shared encounter.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: Convocation, assembly.
מִקְרָא
The related word makes visible how a call can gather people into one place.
qeri'ah: Calling, reading aloud.
קְרִיאָה
The call is voiced and heard; it becomes the opening through which the rulers return.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מָשָׁה
mashah
Draw out.
Moses’ name is tied to being drawn out of the water. Here the one named “drawn out” calls others back within reach, and the verse’s movement ends in conversation.
ALSO GROWS
meshithihu: “I drew him out,” the naming phrase in Exodus 2:10.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
The phrase shows the name carrying an act of being drawn from danger into identity.
yimsheni: “He drew me out,” as in Psalm 18:16.
יִמְשֵׁנִי
The same root describes being drawn out of many waters, echoing the movement from peril or distance toward reach.
THE PATTERN
A voice that reaches across separation can open a path back into encounter.
And the LORD God called to Adam, and said to him, Where are you?When you say, Seek my face; my heart says to you, Your face, LORD, I will seek.Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned, and said to him, Rabboni, Teacher.THE THREAD
Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, Turn to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the LORD of hosts.The Hebrew root שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “turn” or “return,” appears in both verses. Zechariah’s paired turning toward one another shows the relational weight of the rulers’ return: the movement ends not only at a location, but in renewed address.
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