Ῥῆμα, Not Λόγος: How Exodus 24:4 Describes God’s Word
How we read the Bible is often shaped by small details that carry large meaning. One such detail appears in Exodus 24:4 and has to do with how God’s word is understood—whether as an abstract message or as spoken speech that brings action.
In the Masoretic Text (the carefully preserved Hebrew text used in Jewish and most Christian Old Testaments), Exodus 24:4 says that Moses wrote “all the words of the LORD” (כָּל־דִּבְרֵי יְהוָה, kol divrê YHWH). The Hebrew word used here, dāḇār, can mean “word,” but it often means more than that. In the Hebrew Bible, a dāḇār is frequently something spoken that does something. God speaks, and what he speaks happens. His word is not only information; it is action.
The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, helps clarify this. In its earliest and most reliable form, the Septuagint translates the phrase as “all the utterances of the Lord” (πάντα τὰ ῥήματα κυρίου). The Greek word used here, rhēma, normally refers to something actually spoken—an utterance or saying. It fits very naturally with the story in Exodus. God speaks to Moses, and afterward Moses writes down what God has already said.
| Text / Tradition | Wording in Exodus 24:4 | What the word emphasizes | How it fits the scene |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masoretic Text (Hebrew) |
כָּל־דִּבְרֵי יְהוָה kol divrê YHWH |
דָּבָר (dāḇār) often carries the sense of a spoken matter or utterance, sometimes with an action-like force. | God’s speech is given, heard, and then written down. |
| Septuagint (earliest tradition) |
πάντα τὰ ῥήματα κυρίου panta ta rhēmata kyriou |
ῥῆμα (rhēma) points to a spoken utterance—something actually said. | God speaks first; Moses records what was spoken. |
| Some later Greek witnesses |
πάντας τοὺς λόγους κυρίου pantas tous logous kyriou |
λόγος (logos) is broader and can refer to message, teaching, or discourse. | Understandable, but less focused on spoken utterance than ῥῆμα. |
This detail is important because it shows how revelation is being understood in the text. Moses is not presented as someone developing ideas or explaining theology in his own words. Rather, he is writing down speech that has already been spoken by God. God speaks first; writing comes second.
Another Greek word, logos, could also mean “word,” but it usually has a broader sense. It can refer to teaching, reasoning, or a message as a whole. In later Greek thought, logos often becomes more abstract. While it is an important word in many biblical contexts, it is not the word the earliest Septuagint tradition uses here in Exodus 24.
It is true that logos appears in some later Greek manuscripts and quotations. This likely reflects later copying habits, where scribes preferred language that felt more familiar or more common, especially as Christian theology developed. Over time, logos became a dominant word for speaking about God’s message, particularly in the New Testament. That later usage sometimes influenced how older texts were copied or cited. On later manuscript usage of λόγος and tendencies toward harmonization, see standard discussions in Septuagint textual criticism (e.g., Rahlfs).
However, when we look at the Hebrew text and the earliest Greek translation together, they point in the same direction. Both emphasize spoken divine words—speech that comes from God and is then written down. This preserves a very concrete picture of revelation. God’s word is something spoken aloud, something heard, something powerful enough to be written exactly as given.
Seen this way, Exodus 24:4 presents Moses not as the source of the message, but as its faithful recorder. The authority of the text comes from God’s voice, not from human reflection. Writing serves to preserve what was spoken, not to replace it.