What Does Numbers 31:1 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 voice reaches Moses, whose name means “drawn out,” before the next word unfolds.
THE MEANING
You stand at the threshold of a message: you are addressed before you know what it contains. The word carries substance, and its meaning unfolds in what follows.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
wayedabber
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or declare; its noun branch can mean a word, matter, or thing.
“spake” in this verse is wayedabber. The verb comes from the same root as davar, which names both a word and a matter or thing. Speech here carries substance; “saying” opens what that substance is.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
The noun shares the root of “spake,” joining the spoken word to the substance it carries.
dibbur: Speech or utterance
דִּבּוּר
This speech noun keeps the verse’s spoken act connected to the same root.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
To draw out, especially from water, as the name is explained in Exodus 2:10.
Moses’ name holds “drawn out” within it. The address therefore meets someone whose name already carries the mark of being drawn out before any new instruction is spoken.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out
מָשָׁה
This is the verb associated with Moses’ name and reveals the meaning carried by the person addressed.
meshitihu: I drew him out
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in the explanation of Moses’ name: “Because I drew him out of the water.”
THE PATTERN
A voice meets a person through direct address before the message’s substance unfolds.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.Numbers uses the verb from דבר for “spake”; Genesis uses the same root in “word” (davar). One names the act of speaking, the other the word that comes, revealing the shared root beneath the voice and what it carries.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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