What Does Exodus 20:22 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
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
Heaven’s speech is presented as an encounter the people can witness, not merely a message passed on to them.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as a witness to speech that comes from heaven and is directed “with you.” The verse holds seeing and speaking together: divine communication is something encountered, not distant information.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what comes from heaven can only reach you as an abstract or secondhand idea; here, the people witness that God speaks with them.
THE ROOT
דִּבַּרְתִּי
dibbarti
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
To speak; the related noun means word, matter, or thing.
English makes “talked” sound like information passing between heaven and earth. The Hebrew noun from this root, davar, can mean both “word” and “matter,” holding speech close to what is set before the hearer; here, the speech is explicitly “with you.”
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The spoken word belongs to the realm of what is present and addressed, not just an idea at a distance.
devarim: Words or matters; the plural of davar.
דְּבָרִים
The same root can name both speech and its subject matter, bringing the message and what it concerns together.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־ש־ה
To draw out, especially from water.
Moses’ name is linked in Exodus 2:10 to being drawn out of the water. Here, the one whose name carries that image stands between the heavenly voice and the people, conveying the words to them.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the action named in the explanation of Moses’ name, joining the messenger’s identity to being drawn from the water.
Mosheh: Moses, the name linked to “I drew him out.”
מֹשֶׁה
The person addressed by God is himself named through the language of drawing out, and here he carries the speech from God to the people.
THE PATTERN
Divine speech becomes knowable through an encounter people can hear and recognize.
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.And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:THE THREAD
And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.Deuteronomy uses the same Hebrew root for “spake” as Exodus uses for “talked.” It opens the scene further: the people witness the speech, while the voice reaches them without a visible likeness.
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