What Does Exodus 9:1 Mean in the King James?
Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
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
“Let go” also means “send forth”: release carries the people from Pharaoh’s claim into service to the LORD.
THE MEANING
This word meets the place where another power has narrowed your life: release opens a way toward service to the LORD. Freedom here moves from constriction into a different belonging, rather than toward an empty destination. “My people” names the relationship before the release happens.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that freedom means belonging to no one: release from Pharaoh’s claim opens into service to the LORD.
THE ROOT
שַׁלַּח
shallach
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send, release, or let go.
English “let go” can sound like permission simply to depart, while this imperative also means to send forth. The people are released toward a destination, and the verse names that destination as serving the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: Sent, or sending.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name of the pool where a man washes and receives sight (John 9:7) carries this same movement of sending forth.
mishloach: A sending, delivery, or portion sent.
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This branch shows release as movement outward: what is sent leaves the hand that held it and reaches its destination.
יַעַבְדֻנִי
ya’avduni
GROWS FROM
עבד
Work or serve.
The word rendered “serve” belongs to the root that also names labor and a servant, so freedom here is not the end of all service. The change is whose claim directs that service.
ALSO GROWS
avodah: Work, labor, or service.
עֲבוֹדָה
It reveals the work contained in “serve me”: release redirects the people’s labor toward the LORD.
eved: A servant or worker.
עֶבֶד
This branch makes the change of allegiance plain: the verse names who is released and whom they now serve.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משה
Draw out; in Exodus 2:10, Moses is named as one drawn out of the water.
Moses’s name carries the sense “drawn out.” The one whose name holds a rescue by drawing out now carries the command for a people to be drawn out from constriction.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out, especially from water.
מָשָׁה
The verb behind the name echoes the movement from being held to being brought out.
Moshe: The one drawn out.
מֹשֶׁה
His name’s nature mirrors the work he carries here: announcing release for a people still held.
THE PATTERN
Release breaks one power’s claim and redirects the released life toward service to God.
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.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;The Hebrew root שָׁלַח (shalach, send or release) underlies “let go” here and “hath sent me” in Isaiah. Release travels through a messenger and arrives as liberty for those held captive.
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