What Does Exodus 13:15 Mean?
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh stiffened against letting us go, that the LORD struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of humankind to the firstborn of beast. Therefore I slaughter to the LORD every male that opens the womb, and every firstborn of my children I buy back.
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 it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.THE KEY
Here, release carries death and a continuing claim: Pharaoh resists sending Israel out, the LORD kills Egypt’s firstborn, and Israel’s womb-opening firstborn are marked for sacrifice or redemption.
THE MEANING
Freedom in this verse arrives through a killing: the LORD strikes every firstborn in Egypt after Pharaoh resists release. The same passage marks Israel’s firstborn as claimed, distinguishing animal males offered to the LORD from sons who are redeemed. You encounter deliverance here with its cost, its claim, and its violence still visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that release is always gentle or leaves everything untouched: this verse joins release to death, sacrifice, and the redemption of the lives brought out.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁלְּחֵנוּ
leshalcheinu
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
To send, send forth, release, or let go.
“letting us go” in this verse is leshalcheinu. The verb behind “let us go” frames freedom as a sending forth: Pharaoh is being asked to release the people out of his grasp. The same root can name a messenger as one sent, giving the verse’s demanded freedom a clear direction: out from Egypt’s hold.
ALSO GROWS
shilleach: To send away, dismiss, or release.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This verb names the act Pharaoh resists: sending the people away.
shaliach: A messenger or envoy; one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
This branch carries the same root’s sense of being sent forth, making the demanded release a concrete departure.
אֶפְדֶּה
epdeh
GROWS FROM
פדה
padah
To ransom or redeem, releasing through a price or exchange.
“buy back” in this verse is epdeh. The verse distinguishes the fate of Israel’s firstborn: animal males are offered, while sons are redeemed. The root’s ransom sense keeps the claim and cost beneath “redeem,” although this verse does not name the payment.
ALSO GROWS
padah: To redeem or ransom.
פָּדָה
This verb is the seed behind the first-person “I redeem” in the verse.
pidyon: Ransom or redemption price.
פִּדְיוֹן
This noun makes explicit the price that can stand behind the act of redeeming a firstborn.
פֶּטֶר
peter
GROWS FROM
פטר
patar
To open or release; in this phrase, the one that opens the womb.
“every male that opens the womb” in this verse is peter. The verse names the firstborn through the one who first opens the womb; this root also carries the sense of release or exemption. Birth and release therefore sound together just before the verse distinguishes the animal given over from the son redeemed.
ALSO GROWS
patar: To release, let go, or discharge.
פָּטַר
This verb brings a sense of release into the same root family as the womb-opener.
petur: Release or exemption.
פְּטוּר
This noun keeps the root’s release sense visible beside the firstborn who opens the womb.
THE PATTERN
The firstborn who opens the womb is marked as belonging to the LORD.
Every one who breaks open the womb is mine, and every firstling of your livestock, whether ox or sheep, that is male.Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day I struck down the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart to me all of them in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be mine. I am the LORD.As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that opens the womb will be called set apart to the LORD.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may keep a feast to me in the wilderness.Exodus 5:1 uses the same Hebrew root in the first demand, “Let my people go.” Here, that release is recalled with Pharaoh’s resistance foregrounded, and its consequences include the deaths of Egypt’s firstborn and the sacrifice or redemption of Israel’s own.
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