What Does Numbers 35:1 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, 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
At the edge of the Jordan, the word reaches Moses, the one named for being drawn out, before the crossing opens.
THE MEANING
The word reaches you at a threshold, before the next passage is crossed. Moses, whose name is tied to being drawn out, receives it beside the Jordan, where a crossing is near. The boundary is already a place where what comes next is spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The next word cannot arrive until I have crossed into what comes next.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
waydabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; the related noun דָּבָר (dābār) means word, matter, or thing.
“spake” in this verse is waydabber. English can make speech sound like only an utterance, but דָּבָר also names a word or matter. Here the spoken word carries substance: it introduces what is about to be set in motion.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The same root links speaking with the matter being spoken; the LORD’s speech introduces the substance that follows.
dibbur: Speech or utterance.
דִּבּוּר
This noun keeps the focus on speech as an act, showing the shared root beneath “spake” and “word.”
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
m-sh-h
Draw out; the name is linked in Exodus to being drawn out of water.
Moses’ name carries the motion of being drawn out. Beside the Jordan, the word meets the drawn-out one at the edge of another passage, so the place echoes the name’s movement.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the root associated with Moses’ name and with the motion named in Exodus 2:10.
meshitihu: “I drew him out,” the phrase used to explain the name Moses in Exodus 2:10.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
The phrase makes the name’s root concrete: Moses is named through the act of being drawn out of water.
THE PATTERN
Speech arrives at a threshold to name the movement before it begins.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.THE THREAD
And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.The name Moses carries the motion of being drawn out of water. Beside the Jordan, the word meets that drawn-out one at the edge of another passage, and the name makes the location resonate.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us