What Does Exodus 37:18 Mean?
And six stalks going out of its sides, three stalks of the lampstand out of the one side, and three stalks of the lampstand out of the other side.
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 six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof:THE KEY
The six branches are described as what goes out from the lampstand, so their distinct forms still belong to one source.
THE MEANING
The verse presents one lampstand extending into six branches, balanced three on each side. Each branch is distinct, yet each emerges from the same body. The image holds unity and difference together in a single form.
THE ROOT
יוֹצְאִים
yotz'im
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ts-ʾ
to go out, come forth
“going out” in this verse is yotz'im. The verse names the branches with the verb “go out.” That root presents them as outward expressions of the lampstand itself, not as separate forms gathered around it.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: to go out, come forth
יָצָא
This is the root verb behind “going out”; it makes the branches’ emergence from the lampstand part of their description.
motsa: outlet, point of departure
מוֹצָא
This noun from the same root names a place of emergence, echoing the branches that extend from the lampstand’s sides.
yetsi'ah: exit, departure
יְצִיאָה
This form names the act of going out, reinforcing the verse’s picture of one structure extending outward.
THE PATTERN
A single source can extend into multiple branches without becoming multiple sources.
And six stalks come forth from its sides, three stalks of the lampstand from the one side, and three stalks of the lampstand from its other side.And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I have seen, and look, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl upon its top, and its seven lamps upon it, and seven spouts to the seven lamps, which are upon its top.I am the vine, and you are the branches. The one who remains in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.THE THREAD
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was split and became four heads.Both verses use יצא (yatsa, “go out”): Genesis says the river goes out from Eden, while Exodus calls the lampstand’s branches those going out from its sides. Genesis then describes that one outflow dividing into four heads, making the shared movement from one source into multiple extensions visible.
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