What Does Psalm 106:16 Mean?
They burned with envy of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the set-apart one of the LORD.
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
They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.THE KEY
In a camp meant for shared life, envy treats the one drawn out and the one set apart as threats to belonging.
THE MEANING
Resentment can take root inside the camp itself, turning another person’s distinct place into a threat. Moses carries a name read as “drawn out,” while Aaron is called set apart to the LORD; the verse holds their distinction alongside the community’s envy. Belonging can coexist with the urge to resent who stands apart.
THE ROOT
וַיְקַנְאוּ
vayqane’u
GROWS FROM
קנא
To feel jealousy or zeal; to regard another’s standing with intense ardor.
“burned with envy” in this verse is vayqane’u. This root holds jealousy and zeal together, naming ardor before its direction is clear. Here that ardor fixes on Moses’ and Aaron’s distinct standing inside the camp.
ALSO GROWS
qin’ah: Jealousy; zeal.
קִנְאָה
The noun form shows that envy and zeal share the same root: the intensity takes its character from what it is directed toward.
qanna: Jealous; zealous.
קַנָּא
This form names one who bears that intensity, showing how the root can describe either jealous or zealous ardor.
קְדוֹשׁ
qadosh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart; to consecrate.
“set-apart one” in this verse is qadosh. Aaron is called qadosh to the LORD: set apart to belong to the LORD. The same root gives the word for a sanctuary, linking Aaron’s distinction with a place set apart for divine presence.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness; what is sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the condition Aaron bears in the verse: belonging marked as distinct.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The shared root connects Aaron’s designation with a place set apart for the LORD.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
To draw out; the biblical naming explanation connects Moses with being drawn out of the water.
Exodus 2:10 links Moses’ name with mashah, “to draw out.” English hides that image inside the name of the one envied in the camp.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
Exodus 2:10 uses this verb in the naming explanation for Moses.
Mosheh: Moses; “drawn out” in the biblical naming explanation.
מֹשֶׁה
His name carries the image of being drawn out, though English leaves that meaning out of view.
THE PATTERN
When another person is singled out, envy recasts that distinction as a threat to one’s own place.
And his brothers envied him, but his father guarded the word.And Saul burned exceedingly, and this word was evil in his eyes, and he said, They have given David ten thousands, and to me they have given only thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?For where boiling and strife are, there is no standing still and every base deed.THE THREAD
And Moses said to him, "Are you burning for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would set his breath upon them!"Numbers uses the same Hebrew root קנא (qana, jealousy or zeal) in Moses’ question. His answer opens the verse further: he wants the LORD’s gift and breath shared among all, not guarded as a scarce distinction.
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