What Does Exodus 35:1 Mean?
And Moses gathered all the assembly of the children of Israel, and said to them, These are the words that the LORD commanded, that you should do 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 gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them.THE KEY
Moses, the one drawn out, gathers the whole people around words meant to become deeds.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s instruction is present as words that gather a whole community into shared action. Moses carries the name-nature of one drawn out, and here that movement opens outward: the drawn-out one convenes others around what is to be done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that sacred words are complete once heard gives way: here, the words are given to be done.
THE ROOT
הַדְּבָרִים
ha-devarim
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; the root also carries the sense of a word or matter.
Dābār can mean both a spoken word and a matter or thing, so the LORD’s words are not detached sound. This verse holds speech and action together: what is spoken enters communal life as something to be done.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, affair, or thing.
דָּבָר
It links what is said with the matter that takes shape in the community’s actions.
dibbēr: To speak; he spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken act and the words spoken share the same root, joining the LORD’s speech to the instruction the people enact.
וַיַּקְהֵל
vayyaqhel
GROWS FROM
ק־ה־ל
q-h-l
To assemble or convene.
The Hebrew places the deliberate gathering before the words are spoken: the instruction is given to a convened whole. The verb and the word for assembly share the same root, making the community itself part of how the instruction is received.
ALSO GROWS
qāhāl: Assembly or gathered community.
קָהָל
This noun names the people brought together here, connecting the act of gathering with the community that hears.
haqhēl: Assemble or gather.
הַקְהֵל
This verb form shows the same root as an active convening, illuminating Moses’ role in bringing the whole community together.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
m-sh-h
To draw out.
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. The name Mosheh is linked in Exodus 2:10 with being drawn out of the water. Here, the one drawn out gathers the whole assembly, joining deliverance with the shared hearing of instruction.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This root meaning opens the name’s nature: Moses is associated with being drawn out.
mĕshîtihû: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in Exodus 2:10 and connects Moses’ name with being drawn from the water.
THE PATTERN
The gathered community receives words whose purpose is to take form in shared action.
Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little ones, and the sojourner within your gates, so that they may hear and respond, and so that they may learn, and be struck with awe of the LORD your God, and guard to do all the words of this instruction;And all the people gathered as one man into the broad place before the waters gate, and they said to Ezra the writer to bring the scroll of the instruction of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
And Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD has said we will do.Both verses use dābār (דָּבָר), meaning word or matter, for the LORD’s words, and both connect those words with doing. Together they reveal instruction as speech that enters shared practice.
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