What Does Exodus 19:3 Mean in the King James?
And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
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 ascent toward God becomes the beginning of a voice that carries what is received to an entire people.
THE MEANING
Ascent opens into address: Moses (מֹשֶׁה, Moshe, “drawn out”) is called from the mountain and receives words for a whole people. The house of Jacob (יַעֲקֹב, Yaʿaqov, “heel-holder/supplanter”) and children of Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yisra’el, “one who strives with God”) hold a people within both struggle and encounter; the voice reaches them through a shared word.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that closeness to God can remain a private elevation dissolves: the call sends what is heard toward the whole people.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְרָא
vayyiqra
GROWS FROM
קרא
Call, summon, proclaim, or name aloud.
“called” in this verse is vayyiqra. The call is more than private information: קרא (qara, “call”) also names summoning and public proclamation. The verse lets the voice move from a single encounter into words addressed to a people.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: Convocation, assembly, or public reading.
מִקְרָא
The same root can describe an assembly gathered by a call, so the voice in the verse opens toward a people who hear together.
qeri'ah: A calling or reading aloud.
קְרִיאָה
The call grows into spoken words, linking the moment Moses hears with the message he is told to deliver.
עָלָה
ʿalah
GROWS FROM
עלה
Go up, rise, ascend.
“went up” in this verse is ʿalah. The verb for going up shares its seed with both an ascent and what rises as an offering. Moses’s upward movement carries an echo of approach and offering.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolah: A burnt offering, literally that which rises.
עֹלָה
This branch gives the movement upward a devotional resonance: what rises is also something offered.
maʿaleh: An ascent, incline, or stairway.
מַעֲלֶה
The shared root keeps the verse’s physical ascent connected to the broader language of rising.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משה
Draw out, pull from water.
“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. Exodus 2:10 links this name with being drawn out of the water. Here the one drawn out ascends and becomes the carrier of words to a people.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb echoed in the naming explanation for Moses in Exodus 2:10.
meshitihu: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This is the form used in Exodus 2:10 to describe drawing Moses out of the water, carrying the name’s nature into this scene.
THE PATTERN
A divine call becomes speech that reaches beyond the one who receives it and addresses a people.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:THE THREAD
And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.Here the pair of movement and voice appears again: the LORD comes down, calls Moses upward, and Moses goes up. The roots עָלָה (ʿalah, “go up”) and קָרָא (qara, “call”) make the encounter in verse 3 part of the mountain’s repeated exchange between ascent and divine address.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us