What Does Leviticus 13:1 Mean?
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying,THE KEY
The verse holds the moment of speaking and the words to come in two distinct Hebrew roots.
THE MEANING
You encounter the voice before the condition it addresses: the LORD speaks to Moses and Aaron, and the words that follow concern a visible mark on the body. What comes next is framed as spoken disclosure, not a private conclusion.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
vayedabber
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; the root also forms a word or matter.
The Hebrew uses דבר for the act of speaking, while its related noun דָּבָר (davar) means a word, matter, or thing. English makes “spake” sound like a passing introduction; the Hebrew root keeps speech connected to the substance being spoken.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The speech here carries the matter that the next words will unfold.
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verb form makes the speaking itself the event that opens the passage.
לֵאמֹר
le'mor
GROWS FROM
אמר
ʾ-m-r
To say or speak.
The Hebrew first says וַיְדַבֵּר (vayedabber, “he spoke”) and then לֵאמֹר (le’mor, “saying”), from a different root. The wording turns from the act of speaking toward the words themselves, a distinction English smooths into a familiar formula.
ALSO GROWS
amar: To say or speak.
אָמַר
This is the verb behind the “saying” that introduces the words to come.
imrah: Utterance or saying.
אִמְרָה
The related noun keeps the focus on the spoken expression, not just the fact that someone spoke.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
m-sh-h
To draw out.
Moses’s name carries the motion of being drawn out, as the account of his naming makes explicit. Here the coming words pass through the one whose name holds that image of being brought out.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This verb is the root carried by the name Moses.
meshithihu: “I drew him out,” the wording associated with Moses’s naming.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
The phrase makes the name’s root a personal story of being drawn from the waters.
THE PATTERN
God’s word precedes and gives form to what is encountered.
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.For he says, and it comes to be; he commands, and it stands.In the beginning was the word, and the word was turned toward God, and the word was God.THE THREAD
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.“Saying” here is לֵאמֹר (le’mor), from אמר (ʾ-m-r), the same root as “said” in Genesis 1:3. There, speech brings light into view; here, speech introduces the words by which a visible condition will be read.
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