What Does Leviticus 24:13 Mean?

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Leviticus 24:13 · 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

Hebrew’s dabar holds “to speak” and “word, matter” in one root, so the utterance is already an event before its content is disclosed.

THE MEANING

You stand at the threshold before instruction appears: the speaker and the listener are named, while the words themselves remain just beyond the line. Being addressed is already an encounter, before you know what comes next.

THE ROOT

וַיְדַבֵּר

vayedabber

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

To speak, utter, or declare.

“spake” in this verse is vayedabber. The verb ⁨וַיְדַבֵּר⁩ (vayedabber, “he spoke”) comes from the same root as ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (dābār, “word, matter”). Hebrew keeps the act of speaking and the matter spoken in one family: even before the sentence is quoted, the utterance is already active in the scene.

ALSO GROWS

dābār: Word, matter, or affair.

דָּבָר

This noun shares the root of “spake,” joining the act of speaking to the matter that is spoken.

dibrah: Speech, matter, or cause.

דִּבְרָה

This related form also carries both speech and the matter at hand, deepening the sense that the utterance itself is consequential.

מֹשֶׁה

Mōšeh

GROWS FROM

משה

m-sh-h

To draw out, especially from water.

Moses’ name carries the sense of being drawn out of the water. The one addressed here bears a name that holds a story of being drawn out within it.

ALSO GROWS

māšāh: To draw out or pull from water.

מָשָׁה

This is the verb behind the name’s meaning, linking Moses to the act of being drawn out.

Mōšeh: Moses, the one drawn out.

מֹשֶׁה

The name itself carries that nature into the scene as the LORD addresses him.

THE PATTERN

A voice reaches its hearer by name, and that address opens the next movement.

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 · SDVThe voice calls Moses twice, and his reply, “Here am I,” shows the address opening a meeting.

And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.

1 Samuel 3:10 · SDVSamuel’s name is called before the instruction “Speak; for thy servant heareth,” so hearing begins with being addressed.

And he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you pursue me?

Acts 9:4 · SDVSaul is named before the question arrives, making the address itself the doorway to the encounter.

THE THREAD

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Jeremiah 1:4 · SDV

The root of ⁨וַיְדַבֵּר⁩ (vayedabber, “spoke”) here appears as ⁨דְּבַר־יְהוָה⁩ (devar-YHWH, “word of the LORD”) in Jeremiah. The shared root lets the act of speaking and the word arriving remain one family, so the pause here already holds the word Jeremiah names.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us