What Does Exodus 19:9 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
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 cloud veils God’s form while making God’s speech audible to everyone, so trust in Moses rests on a voice the whole people hear.
THE MEANING
When God’s form is veiled from you, God’s speech can still become hearable; the cloud does not silence the voice. Trust in a messenger takes shape as people hear God speaking with him, and he carries their words back to God. The exchange moves both ways: divine speech reaches the people, and the people’s speech reaches God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what is hidden cannot be known or trusted: the cloud veils God’s form while the people hear God’s speech.
THE ROOT
יַאֲמִינוּ
ya'aminu
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
ʾ-m-n
Firm, steady, reliable; the basis for trusting someone as dependable.
English “believe” can sound like an inner opinion; aman carries firmness and reliability, so the people regard Moses as trustworthy because they hear God speaking with him. Its branches show trust as something steady enough to lean on, affirmed through what is heard.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Trust; leaning your full weight on what is reliable.
אֱמוּנָה
It shows the settled reliance contained in the people’s trust in Moses.
amen: Amen; a firm affirmation, “truly” or “so be it.”
אָמֵן
Its affirmation echoes the confidence that becomes solid through witnessed speech.
ne'eman: Reliable, steady, trustworthy.
נֶאֱמָן
This branch names the dependable quality the people recognize in Moses after hearing God speak with him.
יִשְׁמַע
yishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, and attend, with hearing that can carry a response.
The verse does not place trust before hearing: the people hear God speak with Moses, and that shared hearing grounds their trust in him. Shama joins attentive reception with response, making public hearing the bridge to steady trust.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
The people’s hearing is more than sound reaching the ear; it opens into a response of trust.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
It shows how heard speech can become testimony carried among people.
THE PATTERN
Trust becomes grounded when speech is made hearable and its testimony can be shared.
Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.THE THREAD
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.The Hebrew behind “believed” here shares א־מ־ן (ʾ-m-n), the root of firm, steady trust. In Exodus, the people hear the LORD speaking with Moses, and their trust in the messenger rests on that witnessed voice.
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