What Does Exodus 19:10 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
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
Here, being set apart reaches beyond the person to what the person wears.
THE MEANING
The verse presents readiness for encounter as both setting the people apart and washing their clothes. Its two-day rhythm lets that preparation unfold, reaching from who you are to the ordinary things you wear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being set apart is only an invisible status, untouched by ordinary life.
THE ROOT
וְקִדַּשְׁתָּם
veqiddashtam
GROWS FROM
קדש
Set apart; mark as distinct.
“sanctify them” in this verse is veqiddashtam. The root also gives words for what is set apart and for a place set apart. The verse holds the people’s distinctness alongside the washing of their clothes, letting preparation reach both person and garment.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; distinct.
קָדוֹשׁ
It carries the same set-apart quality named in the command.
miqdash: A sanctuary; a place set apart.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shows the root extending from a quality of the people to a space made distinct.
qodesh: Set-apartness; what is sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the state the command brings into view.
וְכִבְּסוּ
vekhibbəsu
GROWS FROM
כבס
Wash, especially clothing.
“wash” in this verse is vekhibbəsu. This is a garment-washing verb, so the preparation is attached to something ordinary and visible. Beside the separate command to set the people apart, it shows readiness reaching what they wear without collapsing the two actions into one.
ALSO GROWS
kibbēs: Washed or laundered.
כִּבֵּס
This verb form names the same washing of clothing that the verse commands.
mekhabbēs: A washer of garments; a fuller.
מְכַבֵּס
The related word for the person who washes cloth keeps the root grounded in the work of cleansing garments.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
Draw out, especially from water.
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. The name is linked in Exodus 2:10 to being drawn out of the water. Here, the one who carries the command to the people bears a name with that image of emergence, alongside a scene of washing and preparation.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb linked to the name Moses and its image of emergence from water.
məshītihū: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in the explanation of Moses’ name and makes the name’s water image explicit.
THE PATTERN
Readiness for encounter becomes visible through cleansing that reaches both the person and what they wear.
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.THE THREAD
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.The same set-apart verb returns as an action, alongside the people’s washing of their clothes. The distinction named in verse 10 becomes visible in the people and what they wear.
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