What Does Exodus 4:6 Mean?
And the LORD said further to him, Bring your hand now into your bosom. And he brought his hand into his bosom, and when he brought it out, behold, his hand was stricken, white as snow.
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 said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.THE KEY
What goes into concealment comes back as the sign: the hidden interval is where the visible change occurs.
THE MEANING
The verse puts the hand into a concealed fold and brings it back visibly afflicted with tsara’at, “as snow.” The hidden interval ends in a condition the eye can recognize at once.
THE ROOT
וַיּוֹצִאֶהָ
wayyotsi'ehah
GROWS FROM
יצא
Go out, come forth; in a causative form, bring something out.
“brought it out” in this verse is wayyotsi'ehah. The verb carries the force of bringing the hidden hand forth into view. The same root names Israel’s going out from Egypt, so this motion belongs to Scripture’s wider language of emergence.
ALSO GROWS
hotsi: Bring or cause to go out
הוֹצִיא
This causative form illuminates how the hand is brought out from concealment.
yetsi'ah: Going out, departure
יְצִיאָה
The same root names a departure, including Israel’s going out from Egypt.
מְצֹרַעַת
metzora'at
GROWS FROM
צרע
The consonantal root behind the term; its deeper etymology is uncertain, while its biblical sense is a skin affliction.
“stricken” in this verse is metzora'at. The Hebrew names tsara’at, a visible skin condition; it does not by itself settle a modern medical diagnosis. “As snow” draws attention to what can be seen on the hand, keeping the sign concrete.
ALSO GROWS
tsara'at: The skin condition called tsara’at
צָרַעַת
This is the condition the verse says has appeared on the hand.
metsora: A person afflicted with tsara’at
מְצֹרָע
This related form names a person by the same visible condition.
THE PATTERN
What is concealed becomes readable when it is brought into view.
And he said, Return your hand to your bosom again. And he returned his hand to his bosom again, and brought it out of his bosom, and behold, it had turned back, like his other flesh.And the cloud turned aside from over the tent, and look, Miriam was leprous, white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and look, she was leprous.For nothing is hidden that will not be made visible, nor anything concealed that will not be known and come into the light.THE THREAD
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.“Brought thee out” uses the same יצא (yatsa, go out or come forth) root carried by “took it out” here. The hand’s emergence from concealment echoes the movement by which a people comes out from the house of bondage.
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