What Does Leviticus 4:1 Mean?
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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 the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,THE KEY
The LORD’s word arrives to Moses, whose name is tied to being drawn out, before the instruction unfolds.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you at the threshold of an instruction: the LORD speaks, and the saying is about to unfold. The word is personal before its content is disclosed; a particular life is addressed before the teaching opens.
THE ROOT
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
Draw out
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. Exodus 2:10 ties Mosheh to mashah, “draw out,” in Pharaoh’s daughter’s words, “I drew him out of the water.” Here the name is addressed, so the voice reaches someone whose name carries that image of being drawn out.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out
מָשָׁה
This is the verb behind the naming wordplay in Exodus 2:10.
meshitihu: I drew him out
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
These are the words Pharaoh’s daughter uses to explain Moses’ name.
דִּבֶּר
dibber
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak, utter
“spoke” in this verse is dibber. The verb dibber comes from dabar, whose related noun davar can mean “word,” “matter,” or “thing.” Hebrew keeps speech close to the matter spoken: this is not detached sound, but a saying that bears content.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
The shared root links the LORD’s speech with the matter being spoken.
dibber: Spoke
דִּבֶּר
This is the root in action as the LORD addresses Moses.
THE PATTERN
A divine word becomes personal by arriving as a voice that calls and can be heard.
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.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.This verse ties Moses’ name to mashah, “draw out,” in Pharaoh’s daughter’s words, “I drew him out of the water.” That name makes the address here more than an identifier: the spoken instruction reaches the one whose name carries the image of being drawn out.
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