What Does Numbers 15:1 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
The Hebrew root behind “spake” also names a “word” or “matter,” so the voice arrives as something taking shape, not empty sound.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you at the threshold of a message: the LORD speaks to Moses, whose name carries the sense “drawn out,” while the saying is still unfolding. The voice reaches the one named by being drawn out before its content is disclosed.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
wayyedabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
speak; utter
“spake” in this verse is wayyedabber. English separates the act of speaking from the word spoken, but both grow from the Hebrew root ד־ב־ר (d-b-r). The voice here is an utterance taking shape as a word or matter.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word; matter; thing
דָּבָר
The same root names both speaking and what is spoken, joining the voice to the substance it conveys.
dibbur: speech; speaking
דִּבּוּר
This branch names speech itself, bringing the act in “spake” into view as more than sound.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
m-sh-h
draw out
Moses’ name carries the sense of being drawn out. Here the one marked by that name is the one addressed: being drawn out and receiving the word meet in a single person.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This verb carries the action behind Moses’ name.
Moshe: Moses; the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name places the sense of being drawn out inside the identity of the person who receives the LORD’s speech.
THE PATTERN
A divine address establishes a hearer as the saying itself opens.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:THE THREAD
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.The same root, ד־ב־ר (d-b-r), carries “speaking” here and “word” in Deuteronomy. That verse opens this address further: the word coming from the LORD’s mouth is presented as what sustains life.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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