What Does Exodus 35:26 Mean in the King James?
And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.
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
What English calls hearts being “stirred” is a lifting that carries inner movement into skilled work.
THE MEANING
The verse holds inner movement and practiced skill in one act: the women’s hearts lift them, and wisdom appears in their hands as they spin goats’ hair. Here, wisdom is something embodied and made, not only something thought.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that wisdom is only abstract thought dissolves here: wisdom is visible, practiced skill.
THE ROOT
נָשָׂא
nāśāʾ
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, or bear.
The verb translated “stirred them up” carries the basic motion of lifting or bearing. The Hebrew pictures the heart lifting the women into action, so inner movement bears fruit as work.
ALSO GROWS
nāśîʾ: Leader or prince; one raised to a position.
נָשִׂיא
This branch carries the sense of being lifted up, echoing the heart’s upward movement into action.
maśśāʾ: A burden, something carried.
מַשָּׂא
This branch shows the root’s carrying sense: here, the heart carries its impulse into work.
חָכְמָה
ḥokhmāh
GROWS FROM
חכם
To be wise or skillful; to act with practical competence.
In this craft setting, ḥokhmāh is more than an idea: it is skilled know-how. The same word family describes the “wise-hearted” as capable artisans, so wisdom here is what practiced hands can do.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A wise or skillful person.
חָכָם
This branch lets wisdom describe a person’s capability, not only a thought they hold.
ḥakham-lev: Wise of heart; skillful in heart.
חֲכַם־לֵב
This phrase is used for artisans in the same work account, joining inner wisdom with the ability to make.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom becomes visible when inward capacity takes shape in skilled work.
And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.THE THREAD
And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’s offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.The same verb נשא (nāśāʾ, lift or carry) describes the heart lifting a person into willing contribution. Here, that same inner lift takes a precise material form: skilled hands spin goats’ hair.
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