What Does Leviticus 27:1 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
In Hebrew, the word for “spake” shares its root with “matter,” so the LORD’s speech already carries what is about to unfold.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s word meets you at the threshold of a matter not yet fully visible. As with Moses, the one drawn out, the saying comes before the next instruction takes shape.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
vayedabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
Speak, declare.
The root of “spake” also forms a Hebrew word for both “word” and “matter.” Speech here is more than a preface: it carries the substance the chapter is about to unfold.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
This branch links what is spoken with the matter that takes shape in the verses that follow.
dĕbārîm: Words, matters, things.
דְּבָרִים
The plural keeps the same connection between spoken words and the matters they name.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
m-sh-h
Draw out.
Moses’s name is linked in its naming story to being drawn out of the water. Here, the one drawn out receives the word that opens the next matter.
ALSO GROWS
māšāh: To draw out, extract.
מָשָׁה
This verb carries the name’s connection to being drawn out of the water.
mĕšîtîhû: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This is the form used in the naming story, making the root’s meaning audible in Moses’s name.
THE PATTERN
The divine word carries the shape of what comes next into the open.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.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.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.The Hebrew word דָּבָר (dābār, “word” or “matter”) in Psalm 33:6 comes from the same root as “spake” here. That shared root links the LORD’s speech with the substance it brings into form.
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