What Does Exodus 17:4 Mean in the King James?

And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

Exodus 17:4 · KJV

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 cry is not a victory shout: it is a direct appeal spoken while bodily violence is close.

THE MEANING

When conflict presses toward bodily harm around you, this verse holds a direct appeal to God beside a question with no ready answer. The danger stays visible inside the prayer: the people are almost ready to stone Moses.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It loosens the belief that an honest appeal to God must arrive with a solution already in hand; the prayer itself is a question.

THE ROOT

וַיִּצְעַק

vayyits'aq he cried

GROWS FROM

צעק

To cry out or call aloud, often in distress.

“cried” in this verse is vayyits'aq he cried. ⁨וַיִּצְעַק⁩ makes Moses’ words an outcry, not a composed report. This root also names the cry itself, so the distress becomes audible as an appeal before God.

ALSO GROWS

tse'aqah: Cry, outcry

צְעָקָה

In Exodus 3:9, this noun names Israel’s cry alongside its oppression, echoing the distress carried in Moses’ verb.

vayyits'aqu: They cried out

וַיִּצְעֲקוּ

Psalm 107:6 uses this plural verb for people crying to the LORD in their trouble, showing the same root as a voiced appeal.

THE PATTERN

Distress is given voice before God, and God hears it.

Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

Psalm 107:6 · KJVTheir cry comes from trouble and is directed to the LORD, who answers with deliverance.

I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

Acts 7:34 · KJVThe distress is heard by God, whose response is to come down and deliver.

THE THREAD

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

Exodus 3:9 · KJV

The Hebrew ⁨צַעֲקָה⁩ (tsa’aqah, outcry) shares the ⁨צעק⁩ seed with ⁨וַיִּצְעַק⁩ (vayyits’aq, he cried out). Here the cry and oppression appear together, opening Moses’ cry as distress made audible before God.

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