What Does Numbers 11:2 Mean in the King James?
And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.
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 pictures the fire sinking, its descent following the people’s cry through Moses’ prayer to the LORD.
THE MEANING
When danger feels consuming, the verse shows a cry being carried through another person into prayer, followed by the fire subsiding. It keeps the threat real while showing that it does not have the final motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the belief that a destructive force, once underway, cannot be met: here the people cry, Moses prays, and the fire subsides.
THE ROOT
וַתִּשְׁקַע
vattishqa
GROWS FROM
שקע
Sink, settle, subside.
The verb translated “quenched” pictures the fire sinking or subsiding. Its descent gives the ending a sense of the danger going down after Moses prays.
ALSO GROWS
shaqa: Sink or subside.
שָׁקַע
This verb form carries the same downward motion used to describe the fire’s end.
sheqi’ah: Sinking or setting, as of the sun.
שְׁקִיעָה
This noun preserves the image of something descending; here, it helps reveal the motion inside “the fire was quenched.”
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל
vayyitpallel
GROWS FROM
פלל
Intercede or pray, especially in the hitpael form used here.
“prayed” in this verse is vayyitpallel. The verse places Moses’ prayer between the people’s cry and the fire’s subsiding. The plea moves through a person who carries it to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
hitpallel: Pray or intercede.
הִתְפַּלֵּל
This is the verb form used for Moses’ prayer in the verse.
tefillah: Prayer.
תְּפִלָּה
This noun from the same word family names the kind of appeal that stands between the cry and the fire’s end.
וַיִּצְעַק
vayyits’aq
GROWS FROM
צעק
Cry out, call aloud in distress.
“cried” in this verse is vayyits’aq. The people’s cry is a directed outcry, addressed to Moses. The same root appears in a word for a cry that the LORD hears, so this is more than an unnamed feeling: it is a plea with a recipient.
ALSO GROWS
tsa’aq: Cry out.
צָעַק
This verb names the people’s act of voicing their distress to Moses.
tze’aqah: Outcry or cry of distress.
צְעָקָה
This noun from the same root appears in Exodus 3:7 for the cry the LORD says he has heard.
THE PATTERN
A cry carried into prayer marks a turning point where danger can give way to relief.
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;Numbers uses the verb צעק (tsa’aq), and Exodus uses צַעֲקָה (tza’aqah), a noun from the same outcry root. Here the LORD says he hears that cry, opening Numbers’ scene of intercession onto a direct connection: the outcry reaches God.
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