What Does Leviticus 23:33 Mean in the King James?

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Leviticus 23:33 · 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

In Hebrew, the act of speaking and the word or matter spoken grow from one root, so the message is already held inside the voice that opens this verse.

THE MEANING

This verse meets you at the threshold of an address: the LORD speaks to Moses, and the sentence stays open for what follows. It presents instruction as a word reaching a hearer before its contents unfold, while Moses’ name carries the image of one drawn out.

THE ROOT

וַיְדַבֵּר

waydabbēr

GROWS FROM

דבר

D-B-R

Speak; word or matter.

The verb translated “spake” shares its root with the noun for a word or matter. Hebrew holds the speaking and what is spoken together, so this opening presents the message as already within the act of address.

ALSO GROWS

dābār: Word, matter, or thing.

דָּבָר

The shared root joins the LORD’s act of speaking with the word or matter that follows.

dibbēr: Speak or declare.

דִּבֵּר

This verb form makes the act of speaking explicit, as the verse does before the message unfolds.

מֹשֶׁה

Mōsheh

GROWS FROM

משה

M-Sh-H

Draw out; the biblical naming story links Moses with being drawn out of water.

The message reaches Moses, whose name carries the image of being drawn out. The verse’s recipient is thus named with a picture of emergence already within the text.

ALSO GROWS

māšāh: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the verb linked to Moses’ name in the account of his being drawn out of the water.

mešîtihû: I drew him out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This form in the naming account gives the name its image of being drawn out of water.

THE PATTERN

A divine message takes shape through address: a voice reaches a hearer before its content unfolds.

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.

Exodus 3:4 · KJVThe address names Moses twice before the next response, making the encounter between speaker and hearer visible.

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Jeremiah 1:4 · KJVThe word reaches its hearer in an opening that leads directly into what is said.

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Acts 9:4 · KJVA voice addresses Saul directly, and the encounter opens with the words that follow.

THE THREAD

(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,

Deuteronomy 5:5 · KJV

Leviticus uses the verb ⁨וַיְדַבֵּר⁩ (waydabbēr, “spoke”), while Deuteronomy uses ⁨דְּבַר־יְהוָה⁩ (devar-YHWH, “the word of the LORD”); both grow from the root ⁨דבר⁩. The shared root holds speech and word together: what reaches Moses as an address can also be carried as a word between the LORD and the hearer.

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