What Does Exodus 2:6 Mean in the King James?
And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.
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 Hebrew verb for compassion also means “to spare”: she recognizes the child as Hebrew and still moves toward preserving his life.
THE MEANING
You remain more than the identity others assign you; the crying child is recognized as Hebrew and also seen in his immediate need. The verse holds both truths together without making his identity a reason to abandon him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that once you are marked as “one of them,” your vulnerability no longer counts.
THE ROOT
וַתַּחְמֹל
wattaḥmōl
GROWS FROM
חמל
ḥ-m-l
to spare, pity, or show compassion
The verb translated “had compassion” can also mean “to spare.” The Hebrew lets compassion carry the possibility of preserving the child, not only a feeling inside the woman.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāmal: to spare; to have pity
חָמַל
The same verb’s range links her compassion with the child’s chance of survival.
ḥemlāh: compassion, pity
חֶמְלָה
This noun names the compassion itself; the verb in this verse makes that regard active.
THE PATTERN
Compassion moves from seeing vulnerability toward sparing or protecting the vulnerable.
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,THE THREAD
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:The same verb, חמל (ḥāmal), describes compassion here and in Exodus: its sense also includes sparing. In Exodus it opens toward the preservation of one child; here it moves into sending messengers for a people.
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