What Does Leviticus 21:16 Mean?

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Leviticus 21:16 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

THE KEY

The Hebrew root behind “spake” also forms “word” and “matter,” so the voice already carries what the verse has not yet disclosed.

THE MEANING

Here you meet instruction at the threshold: a spoken address is already underway while its content remains undisclosed. The word is present before the limits it will name come into view.

THE ROOT

וַיְדַבֵּר

vayedabber

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

Speak, utter.

“spake” in this verse is vayedabber. The same root gives ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (davar), “word” and “matter”: Hebrew holds the utterance and its subject in one word-family. The speech here is more than sound; it is the matter arriving, just before its content is disclosed.

ALSO GROWS

davar: Word; matter or thing.

דָּבָר

This branch joins speaking with the matter being spoken, revealing the content already carried in the address.

devarim: Words; matters or things.

דְּבָרִים

The plural keeps words and matters together, showing how an utterance can carry substance.

מֹשֶׁה

Moshe

GROWS FROM

משׁה

m-sh-h

Draw out, especially from water.

“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. Exodus 2:10 links Moshe’s name to being drawn out of the water. Here the spoken word is addressed to the “drawn-out” one, placing an image of emergence beside the incoming instruction.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the action behind Moses’ name and the name’s sense of being brought out.

meshithihu: I drew him out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This form in Exodus 2:10 explains the name Moshe through the act of drawing him from the water.

THE PATTERN

Scripture presents instruction as spoken address before its full matter unfolds.

And God spoke all these words, saying,

Exodus 20:1 · SDVThe voice comes first, then the words themselves unfold as commandments.

For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

John 12:49 · SDVThe command is carried through speech, linking the one who sends with the words that are heard.

God, who in many portions and in many ways spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets.

Hebrews 1:1 · SDVGod’s word reaches listeners through speech and voices, making address the means by which the message arrives.

THE THREAD

And the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of appointed meeting, saying,

Leviticus 1:1 · SDV

The same speaking-root appears as the LORD’s address to Moses begins. This verse opens that same pattern further: the instruction arrives as a voice before its matter is disclosed.

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