What Does Exodus 7:16 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.
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 messenger is sent with the same root that orders the people sent out: release is both the message and the movement.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now wherever people are held under a claim: release opens a way toward serving the LORD, even in the wilderness. Pharaoh’s refusal to hear is a refusal to respond to a demand already made plain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that freedom means having no purpose or service: here, release is followed by service to the LORD.
THE ROOT
שַׁלַּח
shallaḥ
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send, send forth, send away; release.
“Let my people go” and “hath sent me” come from the same root. The messenger is sent to demand that the people be sent out: the call to release is carried in the messenger’s own sending.
ALSO GROWS
shaliaḥ: Messenger; one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The messenger’s identity echoes the root of the command he carries: one sent to announce the people’s release.
Shiloach: “Sent”; the name of a waterway associated with the Pool of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name preserves the root’s sense of being sent forth, giving the verb’s movement a concrete branch.
וְיַעַבְדֻנִי
veyaʿavduni
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
Work, serve.
“serve” in this verse is veyaʿavduni. Release here does not mean life without service: the people move from service imposed by Pharaoh into service to the LORD. The root can name both work and a servant, leaving the change in whose claim governs them in view.
ALSO GROWS
eved: Servant; bondservant.
עֶבֶד
This noun makes the human relationship inside “serve me” visible: the verse concerns who holds a claim over the people.
avodah: Work; service.
עֲבֹדָה
The shared root connects service to labor, so the new service is not presented as mere escape from exertion.
שָׁמַעְתָּ
shamaʿta
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed; respond.
“hear” in this verse is shamaʿta. The final clause treats hearing as more than receiving sound: the refusal is a refusal to heed. The spoken demand has reached Pharaoh, but it has not become a response.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond; heed.
שְׁמַע
This familiar imperative carries the responsive sense that Pharaoh withholds here.
shemuʿah: Report; news heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun links hearing to a message received, underscoring that the problem is not that the demand was never spoken.
THE PATTERN
Release from one power opens a path into service under another.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;In Hebrew, שׁלח (shalach, “send” or “release”) appears in both “hath sent me” and “let my people go”; the sending and the release share one root. Isaiah repeats that root in “he hath sent me” and places the sending beside liberty for captives.
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