What Does Exodus 7:8 Mean?
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
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 spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,THE KEY
God’s voice reaches Moses and Aaron in a doubled “say”: the utterance is already unfolding as it arrives.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s word reaches Moses and Aaron together. The one named for being drawn out receives the address alongside another, while its content is still opening. The reader stands inside that moment before the instruction unfolds.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s word is only a private message to one chosen person; this verse includes Aaron in the same address.
THE ROOT
וַיֹּאמֶר
wayyomer
GROWS FROM
אמר
Say, utter.
The Hebrew repeats the root אמר in “the LORD said … to say,” where the KJV renders it “spake … saying.” The repeated root lets speech appear both as an act reaching Moses and Aaron and as words still unfolding to them.
ALSO GROWS
amar: Say, speak.
אָמַר
This is the root repeated in the verse’s opening verb and its closing “saying.”
imrah: Utterance, saying.
אִמְרָה
This branch shows how the act of speaking becomes words that can be received and carried forward.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משׁה
Draw out; the name is linked to one drawn out of water.
“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. The name Moshe is linked to מָשָׁה, “draw out,” by the explanation in Exodus 2:10. Here, the one named for being drawn out is directly addressed, and Aaron is addressed with him.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: Draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the root behind the name’s connection to being drawn out of water.
Moshe: Moses; linked in Exodus 2:10 to one drawn out of water.
מֹשֶׁה
The name brings the image of being drawn out into the moment when the LORD addresses him.
THE PATTERN
The word enters as personal address before its meaning or action unfolds.
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.And he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you pursue me?THE THREAD
And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, the one drawn out, and she said, Because from the waters I drew him out.The name Moshe is linked to mashah, “draw out,” by the words “Because I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 7:8 places that name in a new movement: the one drawn out is now directly addressed, alongside Aaron.
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