What Does Exodus 24:9 Mean in the King James?

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

Exodus 24:9 · KJV

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 one whose name carries the image of being drawn out does not ascend alone; the verse makes approach a movement shared by many.

THE MEANING

You see approach as a shared movement: Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders all go up. The ascent does not belong to Moses alone; the verse places an entire company within the movement.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It unsettles the belief that nearness is reserved for one exceptional mediator: this verse names a company ascending with Moses.

THE ROOT

וַיַּעַל

vayya'al

GROWS FROM

עלה

to rise, ascend, go up

English gives “went up” as a simple travel verb, while this root also names an ascent and the ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (olah, ascent offering), that which rises. The verse makes approach an upward movement shared by a company, not a status held by Moses alone.

ALSO GROWS

olah: ascent; also a burnt offering

עֹלָה

Its name comes from the same root of rising, echoing the upward movement in the verse.

ma'alah: ascent, step, or degree

מַעֲלָה

This branch makes the root’s upward movement concrete: going up is a path with steps.

מֹשֶׁה

Mosheh

GROWS FROM

משה

to draw out

The naming story joins Moses to being drawn out of water. Here the one whose name carries that image goes up with others, placing emergence inside a shared ascent.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: to draw out

מָשָׁה

This verb supplies the action carried by Moses’ name in the naming story.

meshitihu: I drew him out

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This is the phrase in Exodus 2:10 that ties Moses’ name to being drawn out of the water.

THE PATTERN

Approach to God is pictured as ascent or drawing near, a movement that opens into encounter.

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;

Exodus 19:3 · KJVThe same root describes Moses ascending toward God, making ascent a movement into encounter.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Genesis 28:12 · KJVThe ascending and descending figures show a living passage between earth and heaven.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22 · KJVThe upward image appears as drawing near: approach is movement toward encounter.

THE THREAD

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;

Exodus 19:3 · KJV

Both verses use a form of ⁨עָלָה⁩ (alah, rise or ascend) for Moses’ going up. Here the movement named for Moses includes Aaron, his sons, and seventy elders: ascent becomes shared.

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