What Does Leviticus 25:1 Mean?

And the LORD spoke to Moses on the mountain of Sinai, saying,

Leviticus 25:1 · 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 in mount Sinai, saying,

THE KEY

The “drawn-out one” receives what he did not author: the verse reveals the source of instruction before its content.

THE MEANING

The word reaches the reader with its source named as the LORD, before its details unfold. Moses’ name echoes being drawn out, placing reception beside the image of being brought forth.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that meaningful instruction must be self-generated gives way here: the word comes from beyond its receiver.

THE ROOT

וַיְדַבֵּר

vay·dabber

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

To speak; the related noun ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (davar) means word, matter, or thing.

“spake” in this verse is vay·dabber. English can make speaking sound like a passing sound, but this root also names a word or a matter. The LORD’s speech is presented as something substantive that reaches Moses before its details are given.

ALSO GROWS

davar: Word, matter, or thing

דָּבָר

The spoken word is also a matter presented to its receiver.

medabber: One who speaks

מְדַבֵּר

This form keeps the speaker visible in the action: the verse names who initiates the word.

מֹשֶׁה

Mosheh

GROWS FROM

משׁה

m-sh-h

To draw out; Exodus 2:10 connects the name Moses with being drawn out of water.

Moses’ name carries the image of being drawn out. Here that name stands beside receiving speech, so being brought forth and receiving what is spoken meet in one figure.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: To draw out

מָשָׁה

This verb is the name’s root echo and supplies the image of emergence.

Mosheh: Moses, linked in Exodus 2:10 to “I drew him out”

מֹשֶׁה

The name makes the receiver’s own story of being drawn out part of the verse’s texture.

THE PATTERN

What is to be received or seen begins in a word from God.

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

Genesis 1:3 · SDVGod speaks, and light appears; the word precedes what is seen.

And God spoke all these words, saying,

Exodus 20:1 · SDVThe commandments arrive as words spoken by God, matching Leviticus’s speech-first framing.

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

John 1:1 · SDVThe Word stands at the beginning with God, extending the pattern from spoken instruction to the foundation of all things.

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 2:10 gives the name’s own wordplay: Moses is linked with ⁨מָשָׁה⁩ (mashah), “to draw out.” In Leviticus, the one marked by being drawn out receives the LORD’s speech.

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