What Does Exodus 34:5 Mean?
And the LORD came down in the cloud, and stood with him there, and called upon the nature of the LORD.
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 the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.THE KEY
The LORD speaks his nature from within the cloud, so what is hidden is also where the name is revealed.
THE MEANING
The divine presence stands with you even where your view is clouded. There, the LORD’s nature is spoken aloud: the name is not merely a label but a disclosure of who is present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a clouded view means the divine presence is absent or unreachable.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְרָא
wayyiqra
GROWS FROM
קרא
to call, summon, or call aloud
“called upon the nature of” in this verse is wayyiqra. The Hebrew says the LORD “called” the name: the name is voiced as a disclosure of nature, not left as a title. A small sound-shape echo sharpens the scene: “there” (שָׁם, sham) and “name” (שֵׁם, shem) share the consonants שׁם, though they are different words, not one root, the place of meeting and the nature spoken meet in the same phrase.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: a convocation or assembly; something called together
מִקְרָא
The calling of the name gathers the encounter around what the LORD reveals.
qeri'ah: a calling or reading aloud
קְרִיאָה
This branch keeps the voice in view: the name is made known by being spoken.
THE PATTERN
The presence makes its nature known by coming near and speaking.
And the LORD passed by before his face, and called out, The LORD, The LORD God, compassionate and full of favor, slow to flare, abounding in faithful love and truth,For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of knowing the weight of God in the face of Jesus, the Anointed One.No one has ever seen God. The only-born God, who is at the breast of the Father, has led him out.THE THREAD
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will call out the name of the LORD before you. I will favor whom I favor, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.“Proclaim” in both verses comes from קרא (qara), to call aloud. This earlier promise shows what the spoken name discloses: the LORD’s goodness, favor, and compassion.
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