What Does Numbers 14:26 Mean?
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, 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 and unto Aaron, saying,THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “spake” also gives “word” and “matter,” so the LORD’s address is already opening the matter before its content unfolds.
THE MEANING
You stand at the threshold of an address: the LORD speaks to Moses and Aaron together, while the verse leaves the substance of the message suspended at “saying.” The next verse unfolds what this shared address carries.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
waydabbēr
GROWS FROM
דבר
to speak, declare
“spoke” in this verse is waydabbēr. The verb belongs to the same root as the noun for “word” and “matter”: speech and what is at issue occupy one word-family. Here the utterance reaches its hearers before its content is unfolded.
ALSO GROWS
dāḇār: word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
The shared root joins the act of speaking to the matter being brought forward.
dĕḇārîm: words, matters
דְּבָרִים
The plural keeps both senses together: spoken words are also matters being addressed.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōšeh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
to draw out
Moses’ name carries the act of being drawn out, so this address comes to one whose name bears an extraction story. The verse places that name at the receiving end of the LORD’s speech while the message is still opening.
ALSO GROWS
māšâ: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This is the verb associated with Moses’ name in the account of his drawing from the water.
mĕšîtihû: I drew him out
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form names the act behind Moses’ name, giving the listener in this verse a nature marked by being drawn out.
THE PATTERN
Scriptural speech becomes an encounter when a voice addresses a hearer and opens a matter.
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.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
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.Numbers uses the verb וַיְדַבֵּר (waydabbēr, “spoke”); Genesis names the LORD’s message דָּבָר (dāḇār, “word”). The shared root holds speech and its matter together, and Genesis unfolds the reassurance this verse leaves suspended.
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