What Does Leviticus 20:1 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
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
Before the command is named, the voice addresses Moses, whose name carries the meaning “drawn out”: the message begins with address.
THE MEANING
You meet this verse at the threshold of a message: the LORD’s speech is present, while its content is still opening. Moses’ name carries the meaning “drawn out,” so the address reaches a figure whose name holds the image of emergence.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
waydabbēr
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
to speak, address
The same root gives dābār, meaning both “word” and “matter”: speech is tied to what is being disclosed. The verse’s “spake … saying” opens the address first, then the words that follow.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
The spoken address carries the substance that is about to be revealed.
dibbēr: spoke, addressed
דִּבֵּר
This is the same root in its speaking form, showing that the verse begins with a direct act of address.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōsheh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
m-sh-h
to draw out
The name Moses is linked in Exodus 2:10 to the act of drawing him out of the water. Here the spoken address reaches the one whose name carries that image of being drawn out.
ALSO GROWS
māšâ: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This verb is the root behind the name’s meaning in Exodus 2:10.
Mōsheh: Moses; the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name brings the image of emergence into the verse’s moment of address.
THE PATTERN
A spoken address gathers a listener before its message is disclosed.
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:THE THREAD
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.The same Hebrew root, דבר, underlies “spake” here and “speak” in Ezekiel. There the address moves into a specific word, making visible the next step that Leviticus leaves just beyond its opening phrase.
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