What Does Leviticus 23:26 Mean?

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Leviticus 23:26 · 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 LORD’s speech reaches Moses, whose name carries the image of one drawn out, before its content is revealed.

THE MEANING

You meet this verse at the threshold of an utterance: the LORD addresses Moses, and the saying is still opening. Moses’ name is tied to being drawn out, so the listener is marked by emergence before the words unfold.

THE ROOT

מֹשֶׁה

Mosheh

GROWS FROM

מ־שׁ־ה

m-sh-h

draw out

Moses (⁨מֹשֶׁה⁩, Mosheh) is tied in the text to ⁨מָשָׁה⁩ (māšāh), “draw out”; the addressee is named by emergence. Here that name stands just before an utterance whose content is about to emerge.

ALSO GROWS

māšāh: to draw out

מָשָׁה

This verb explains Moses’ name and links the person addressed here with the image of being drawn out.

mĕšîtihû: I drew him out

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This is the form used in Exodus 2:10 to explain the name Moses, making the name’s root connection explicit.

דִּבֶּר

dibber

GROWS FROM

ד־ב־ר

d-b-r

speak, utter; the word family also names a word or matter

“spake” in this verse is dibber. The same root gives ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (dāḇār), “word” or “matter,” joining speech with what is spoken. The verse places the act of speaking before “saying,” letting the utterance itself mark the threshold of the instruction.

ALSO GROWS

dāḇār: word, matter, thing

דָּבָר

The spoken word and the matter it carries belong to the same family, so the LORD’s speech arrives as meaningful substance.

dibber: he spoke

דִּבֶּר

This verb names the act of speech that opens the address to Moses.

THE PATTERN

Divine speech arrives as an address before its meaning unfolds.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Genesis 1:3 · SDVGod’s utterance opens the way for what follows to appear.

And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am.

Exodus 3:4 · SDVMoses first hears himself addressed before the words that follow are revealed.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was turned toward God, and the word was God.

John 1:1 · SDVThe verse presents the Word as present with God before the story of what unfolds through it.

THE THREAD

And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, the one drawn out, and she said, Because from the waters I drew him out.

Exodus 2:10 · SDV

Exodus links Moses’ name to ⁨מָשָׁה⁩ (māšāh), “draw out,” in the words “I drew him out of the water.” In Leviticus, the name of the one drawn out stands at the threshold of the LORD’s next words.

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