What Does Exodus 12:26 Mean in the King James?
And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word translated “service” can name both Egypt’s imposed labor and service to God, making the children’s question one of allegiance: what does this practice serve?
THE MEANING
Your children see the service you keep and ask what it means to you. The Hebrew word holds both imposed labor and service directed toward God, so the question opens a distinction between carrying a practice and being shaped by what it serves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that an inherited practice explains itself: a repeated act still raises the question of what it serves.
THE ROOT
עֲבֹדָה
ʿavodah
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
To serve, work, or labor.
“service” in this verse is ʿavodah. In Exodus 1:14 this root names imposed labor in Egypt; in Exodus 3:12 it names serving God after being brought out. The word holds both meanings together, so the question asks what this practice serves now.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvad: Serve or work.
עָבַד
This verb is the root’s action: service is something done, directed toward someone or something.
ʿeved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
The same root names the person who serves, connecting the act of service to a lived relationship.
ʿavodah: Service, labor, or work.
עֲבֹדָה
This is the noun in the verse; it can describe imposed labor or service to God, giving the children’s question its deeper edge.
THE PATTERN
A practice’s meaning passes between generations when an honest question receives an answer.
And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:THE THREAD
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.Exodus 3:12 uses the same root in “ye shall serve God.” It joins being brought out of Egypt with a new direction for service, so the question in Exodus 12:26 is about how release becomes a practice that can be recognized and explained.
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