What Does Exodus 34:27 Mean in the King James?

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

Exodus 34:27 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew says the covenant was “cut” according to the mouth of these words, so the words give the covenant its shape, not merely a record of it.

THE MEANING

You meet covenant here as something given definite shape by words: what is spoken is written, and the bond is cut according to those words. The Hebrew phrase “according to the mouth of these words” keeps speech at the center, with writing carrying it forward.

THE ROOT

כָּרַתִּי

karatti

GROWS FROM

כרת

To cut; to cut off.

The verb translated “made” is literally “cut”: Hebrew speaks of cutting a covenant. The English smooths over that image, while the Hebrew keeps the covenant’s making joined to the act of cutting.

ALSO GROWS

karat: To cut or cut off.

כָּרַת

This is the root verb behind “made,” preserving the concrete image beneath the translation.

karat berit: To cut a covenant.

כָּרַת בְּרִית

This Hebrew expression shows that covenant-making is spoken of through the same verb as cutting.

הַדְּבָרִים

ha-devarim

GROWS FROM

דבר

To speak; a word or matter.

The Hebrew word for “words” belongs to a root that also means “matter” or “thing.” Here the spoken words are not detached from the covenant’s substance: they are the terms according to which it is cut.

ALSO GROWS

davar: A word, matter, or thing.

דָּבָר

Its range joins what is said with the matter at hand, making the covenant’s words substantial rather than incidental.

dibber: He spoke.

דִּבֶּר

The verse begins with the LORD speaking, then commands Moses to write the words that have been spoken.

מֹשֶׁה

Moshe

GROWS FROM

משה

To draw out.

“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. The verse entrusts the writing to Moshe, whose name the text connects with being drawn out of water. The one named “drawn out” now carries these words into written form.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the verb associated with Moshe’s name and its meaning.

meshitihu: I drew him out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

Exodus 2:10 uses this form in the naming explanation that connects Moshe with being drawn out of the water.

THE PATTERN

Covenant takes definite form through words that are spoken, written, heard, and sealed.

These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

Deuteronomy 29:1 · KJVThe covenant is explicitly identified with its words, carrying the same connection between speech and covenant found here.

And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

Exodus 24:7 · KJVThe written covenant is read aloud and answered by the people, moving its words into a shared response.

Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.

Hebrews 9:20 · KJVThe covenant words are joined to a sealing act, extending the pattern from spoken and written terms to a bond enacted.

THE THREAD

In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Genesis 15:18 · KJV

The same Hebrew verb behind “made” here, ⁨כרת⁩ (karat, “cut”), appears in the covenant with Abram. In both verses the covenant is cut, an image the English rendering “made” leaves quiet.

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