What Does Exodus 32:19 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
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 “broke,” שבר (shābar, “break”), also branches into words for fracture and breaking waves, giving the tablets’ shattering the force of an impact.
THE MEANING
You are brought to the instant when sight becomes fracture: Moses sees the calf and the dancing, his anger burns, and the tablets break beneath the mountain. The rupture becomes visible in matter; the tablets leave his hands and break.
THE ROOT
וַיְשַׁבֵּר
vayeshabber
GROWS FROM
שבר
To break, fracture, or shatter.
“brake” in this verse is vayeshabber. The verb שבר names the act of breaking; שֶׁבֶר names a fracture or ruin, and מִשְׁבָּר names a breaker or billow. Hebrew keeps the tablets’ fracture in the same family as a wave breaking, giving the moment the force of impact rather than a quiet setting down.
ALSO GROWS
shever: A break, fracture, or ruin.
שֶׁבֶר
The noun names the condition that follows the act in the verse: the tablets are broken.
mishbar: A breaker or billow; a breaking wave.
מִשְׁבָּר
This branch carries the root into the force of a wave breaking, evoking the impact of the tablets shattering.
THE PATTERN
A break makes the force and condition of what is broken visible.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.THE THREAD
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.Both verses use שבר (shābar, “break”): Exodus shows tablets breaking beneath the mountain, while the psalm names a broken spirit and heart that God does not despise. The shared root links physical shattering and inward brokenness without making them identical.
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