What Does Exodus 34:32 Mean?
And afterward all the children of Israel drew near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
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 afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.THE KEY
The word Moses hears does not stay at the mountain; it becomes shared when the people draw near.
THE MEANING
What reaches you through another person’s voice can carry what was first spoken in God’s presence. What is heard in one encounter becomes shared instruction as the hearers draw near.
THE ROOT
דִּבֶּר
dibbēr
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak or utter; the related noun names a word or matter.
“had spoken” in this verse is dibbēr. Here, speech and the thing spoken share a root: דָּבָר can mean “word” or “matter,” while דִּבֶּר means “spoke.” Moses carries the whole spoken matter from its source into the hearing of the community.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
The message spoken at Sinai is also a concrete matter carried from speaker to hearers.
dibbēr: Speak, declare
דִּבֵּר
This is the verbal form behind “had spoken,” keeping the LORD’s utterance as the source of Moses’s instruction.
נִגְּשׁוּ
niggeshu
GROWS FROM
נגשׁ
Approach, draw near.
“drew near” in this verse is niggeshu. The people do not receive the command from a distance: the verb comes from the root for approaching. A related form means to bring near, so the verse holds both the people’s movement toward Moses and the words’ arrival among them.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaš: Approach, draw near
נָגַשׁ
This is the root’s basic movement, expressed as all Israel comes close.
higgîš: Bring near, present
הִגִּישׁ
The related causative form shifts the movement to bringing someone or something near; Moses brings the received words within reach of the people.
THE PATTERN
A word received by one person reaches a community through its transmission.
I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD, for you were afraid before the face of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain, saying,Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD which he had spoken to him, upon a roll of a book.And for this reason we also thank God without leaving a gap. For when you took hold of the word of God that you heard from us, you received it not as the word of humankind, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who trust.THE THREAD
Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD which he had spoken to him, upon a roll of a book.Both verses use the d-b-r root for speaking and words. Jeremiah makes the relay visible in writing, extending Exodus’s movement from what is spoken to what a community can receive.
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