What Does Leviticus 5:14 Mean?

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Leviticus 5:14 · 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 Hebrew behind “spake” shares its root with “word” and “matter,” so the utterance is already something real placed before its hearer.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s speech is directed toward a hearer, and what is to be received begins at the moment of address. You meet the verse at that threshold: the word arrives as communication before its instruction unfolds.

THE ROOT

וַיְדַבֵּר

vayedabber

GROWS FROM

דבר

D-B-R

speak, declare

“spoke” in this verse is vayedabber. The verb shares its root with davar, a word for “word,” “matter,” or “thing.” Hebrew lets speech and the matter spoken share a seed: the utterance is not empty sound but something placed before the hearer.

ALSO GROWS

davar: word, matter, thing

דָּבָר

The same root links what is spoken with the matter that is spoken, giving the LORD’s address substance.

dibbur: speech, utterance

דִּבּוּר

This branch names the act of speaking itself, bringing the verse’s opening voice into view.

מֹשֶׁה

Moshe

GROWS FROM

משׁה

M-Sh-H

draw out

The name Moses is linked in the biblical naming story to mashah, “to draw out,” because he is drawn from the water. The one addressed here carries a name shaped by being drawn out and brought into the open.

ALSO GROWS

mashah: draw out

מָשָׁה

This verb is the name’s root connection and gives Moses’ name the sense of one drawn out.

Moshe: Moses; traditionally understood as “drawn out”

מֹשֶׁה

The verse’s hearer carries this name-nature as he receives the LORD’s address.

THE PATTERN

A word from God reaches a hearer, and what follows unfolds from that address.

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

Genesis 1:3 · SDVGod’s speech reaches creation, and light follows the spoken word.

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 · SDVThe LORD calls a hearer by name, and the address opens into a response.

God, who in many portions and in many ways spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets.

Hebrews 1:1 · SDVGod’s word comes through speech that reaches people through a messenger.

THE THREAD

I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD, for you were afraid before the face of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain, saying,

Deuteronomy 5:5 · SDV

The same root, ⁨דבר⁩ (D-B-R), appears in Leviticus as “spake” and in Deuteronomy as “word.” The connection shows the spoken act and the matter received as members of one word-family.

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