What Does Leviticus 21:24 Mean?
And Moses spoke it to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.
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 Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.THE KEY
The word reaches from a priestly household to the whole people without losing its sacred weight.
THE MEANING
The word moves through distinct roles and reaches the whole people. What is spoken to Aaron and his sons is also spoken to every child of Israel; no circle named here is left outside the hearing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this dissolves is that what is sacred belongs only to those who hold an office. The word reaches all Israel, even while the priests remain a distinct group.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
wayedabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak or utter.
“spoke” in this verse is wayedabber. The Hebrew form names Moses speaking to these hearers; the message itself comes through what precedes. From the same root, davar means both “word” and “matter,” holding the utterance and what is spoken within one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word; matter or thing.
דָּבָר
The spoken message and the matter spoken share a root, so the speech carries substance.
medabber: Speaking; one who speaks.
מְדַבֵּר
This form brings the speaker into view: the word travels through a voice to its hearers.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־ש־ה
m-sh-h
To draw out.
Moses’s name is linked to the Hebrew verb for drawing out. Here the one named as drawn out carries the word outward, from Aaron and his sons to all Israel.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb linked to Moses’s name, giving the name a nature of being drawn out.
meshithihu: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in the naming explanation in Exodus 2:10, where the drawing out is compressed into Moses’s name.
THE PATTERN
A word entrusted to particular voices is carried outward until the whole community can hear it.
Speak to all the assembly of Israel, saying, “On the tenth day of this month each man will take for himself a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for each house.”Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little ones, and the sojourner within your gates, so that they may hear and respond, and so that they may learn, and be struck with awe of the LORD your God, and guard to do all the words of this instruction;Nor do I ask for these alone, but for those also who will lean their full weight on me through their word.THE THREAD
By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.Leviticus uses וַיְדַבֵּר (wayedabber, “and he spoke”), from דבר (d-b-r); Psalm 33:6 uses דָּבָר (davar, “word”). The same root-family moves from spoken utterance to a word that brings the heavens into being, while here it is carried to the whole people.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us