What Does Zechariah 6:9 Mean?

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Zechariah 6:9 · 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 word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

THE KEY

The Hebrew word translated “word” can also mean “matter” or “thing,” so the address arrives carrying substance.

THE MEANING

This verse names an encounter that remains present: the LORD’s word comes to a person and speaks. The Hebrew davar holds “word” and “matter” together, so divine speech carries substance as it reaches you.

THE ROOT

דָּבָר

davar

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

To speak; the related noun means word, matter, or thing.

Davar can name both a spoken word and a matter or thing. English preserves the speech but can hide the sense of matter, holding the arriving address and its substance together.

ALSO GROWS

dibber: To speak or utter.

דִּבֵּר

This verbal branch makes clear that the word arriving to Zechariah is living speech.

devarim: Words, matters, or things.

דְּבָרִים

This plural branch keeps speech and matter joined in the same word family.

THE PATTERN

God’s word reaches people as a speaking address and carries active force beyond mere information.

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.

Genesis 15:1 · SDVThe word arrives to Abram as an address that speaks directly into his present.

While Annas and Caiaphas were the chief priests, the word of God came upon John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

Luke 3:2 · SDVThe word comes to John as an encounter that reaches a person where he is.

For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of living soul and breath, of joints and marrow, and it separates the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 · SDVThe word is living and active, carrying force beyond a message that is merely heard.

THE THREAD

Then the LORD stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Look, I have set my words in your mouth.

Jeremiah 1:9 · SDV

Jeremiah’s ⁨דְּבָרַי⁩ (devarai, my words) belongs to the same ⁨דָּבָר⁩ (davar, word or matter) family at the center of Zechariah’s verse. The word arrives in Zechariah and, in Jeremiah, becomes words placed in a mouth.

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