What Does Numbers 12:7 Mean in the King James?
My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
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 word behind “faithful” means firm: Moses is steady enough to be trusted throughout the whole house.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of service as something that can be trusted across the whole household. It names firmness as the quality of a servant whose presence is dependable throughout what is entrusted to them. Moses’ name carries the image of one drawn out, and here that drawn-out life is described as steady in the house.
THE ROOT
נֶאֱמָן
ne'eman
GROWS FROM
אמן
אמן (ʾaman): to be firm, sure, or trustworthy.
Here “faithful” names a firmness that can be relied on throughout the whole house. The same root gives אָמֵן (amen, “firm; truly”), so this trustworthiness has the texture of something that holds.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: steadiness, firmness, trust
אֱמוּנָה
Its shared root shows that trust is bound to being firm and dependable.
amen: firm; truly; so be it
אָמֵן
The familiar affirmation carries the same sense of confirming something as sure.
עֶבֶד
ʿeved
GROWS FROM
עבד
עבד (ʿ-b-d): to serve or work.
“Servant” and “service” grow from the same root, joining the person’s role to the work they do. In this verse, Moses’ place in the house is marked by service throughout it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavad: to serve, work
עָבַד
The verb makes the servant’s role an active way of being in the household.
ʿavodah: service, work
עֲבֹדָה
This noun shows service as the work that fills the servant’s place in the house.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משה
משה (m-sh-h): to draw out; the name is linked in Exodus 2:10 to being drawn out of the water.
“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. The name מֹשֶׁה (Moshe, “drawn out”) carries a nature of being brought out. Here the one drawn out is also the servant described as firm throughout the house.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This verb gives the name its image of being drawn from the water.
meshitihu: I drew him out
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
The form used in Exodus 2:10 makes the name’s connection to drawing out explicit.
THE PATTERN
Trustworthy service is shown through steadiness across the whole household entrusted to it.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.THE THREAD
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;The same Hebrew root אמן (ʾaman, “to be firm or trustworthy”) describes Moses here and God in Deuteronomy. The verse opens the word “faithful” further: steadiness in the house echoes the firmness that holds covenant across generations.
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