What Does Exodus 35:1 Mean in the King James?
And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them.
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
Moses, the one drawn out, gathers the whole people around words meant to become deeds.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s instruction is present as words that gather a whole community into shared action. Moses carries the name-nature of one drawn out, and here that movement opens outward: the drawn-out one convenes others around what is to be done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that sacred words are complete once heard gives way: here, the words are given to be done.
THE ROOT
הַדְּבָרִים
ha-devarim
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; the root also carries the sense of a word or matter.
Dābār can mean both a spoken word and a matter or thing, so the LORD’s words are not detached sound. This verse holds speech and action together: what is spoken enters communal life as something to be done.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, affair, or thing.
דָּבָר
It links what is said with the matter that takes shape in the community’s actions.
dibbēr: To speak; he spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken act and the words spoken share the same root, joining the LORD’s speech to the instruction the people enact.
וַיַּקְהֵל
vayyaqhel
GROWS FROM
ק־ה־ל
q-h-l
To assemble or convene.
“gathered” in this verse is vayyaqhel. The Hebrew places the deliberate gathering before the words are spoken: the instruction is given to a convened whole. The verb and the word for assembly share the same root, making the community itself part of how the instruction is received.
ALSO GROWS
qāhāl: Assembly or gathered community.
קָהָל
This noun names the people brought together here, connecting the act of gathering with the community that hears.
haqhēl: Assemble or gather.
הַקְהֵל
This verb form shows the same root as an active convening, illuminating Moses’ role in bringing the whole community together.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
m-sh-h
To draw out.
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. The name Mosheh is linked in Exodus 2:10 with being drawn out of the water. Here, the one drawn out gathers the whole assembly, joining deliverance with the shared hearing of instruction.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This root meaning opens the name’s nature: Moses is associated with being drawn out.
mĕshîtihû: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in Exodus 2:10 and connects Moses’ name with being drawn from the water.
THE PATTERN
The gathered community receives words whose purpose is to take form in shared action.
Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.Both verses use dābār (דָּבָר), meaning word or matter, for the LORD’s words, and both connect those words with doing. Together they reveal instruction as speech that enters shared practice.
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