What Does Leviticus 21:16 Mean in the King James?

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Leviticus 21:16 · KJV

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 Hebrew root behind “spake” also forms “word” and “matter,” so the voice already carries what the verse has not yet disclosed.

THE MEANING

Here you meet instruction at the threshold: a spoken address is already underway while its content remains undisclosed. The word is present before the limits it will name come into view.

THE ROOT

וַיְדַבֵּר

vayedabber

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

Speak, utter.

“spake” in this verse is vayedabber. The same root gives ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (davar), “word” and “matter”: Hebrew holds the utterance and its subject in one word-family. The speech here is more than sound; it is the matter arriving, just before its content is disclosed.

ALSO GROWS

davar: Word; matter or thing.

דָּבָר

This branch joins speaking with the matter being spoken, revealing the content already carried in the address.

devarim: Words; matters or things.

דְּבָרִים

The plural keeps words and matters together, showing how an utterance can carry substance.

מֹשֶׁה

Moshe

GROWS FROM

משׁה

m-sh-h

Draw out, especially from water.

“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. Exodus 2:10 links Moshe’s name to being drawn out of the water. Here the spoken word is addressed to the “drawn-out” one, placing an image of emergence beside the incoming instruction.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the action behind Moses’ name and the name’s sense of being brought out.

meshithihu: I drew him out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This form in Exodus 2:10 explains the name Moshe through the act of drawing him from the water.

THE PATTERN

Scripture presents instruction as spoken address before its full matter unfolds.

And God spake all these words, saying,

Exodus 20:1 · KJVThe voice comes first, then the words themselves unfold as commandments.

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

John 12:49 · KJVThe command is carried through speech, linking the one who sends with the words that are heard.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Hebrews 1:1 · KJVGod’s word reaches listeners through speech and voices, making address the means by which the message arrives.

THE THREAD

And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,

Leviticus 1:1 · KJV

The same speaking-root appears as the LORD’s address to Moses begins. This verse opens that same pattern further: the instruction arrives as a voice before its matter is disclosed.

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