What Does Exodus 14:10 Mean?
And when the Great House drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and look, the Egyptians were journeying after them, and they feared greatly, and the children of Israel cried out to 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
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.THE KEY
The threat closes in, but fear is not the only thing moving: Israel’s terror becomes a cry aimed at the LORD.
THE MEANING
The pursuing danger is real, and the people are sore afraid. Their fear does not prevent speech; it becomes an outcry to the LORD, so the tightest moment is also a moment of address.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that fear makes a cry to the LORD invalid is undone here: Israel is terrified and still cries out.
THE ROOT
וַיִּצְעֲקוּ
vayyits'aqu
GROWS FROM
צעק
ṣ-ʿ-q
to cry out, raise an outcry, often for help
“cried out” in this verse is vayyits'aqu. This is not a composed prayer but a cry forced out by danger. The same root names the outcry the LORD hears in Exodus 3:7, so the word carries more than fear: it is a voice reaching toward witness.
ALSO GROWS
tsa'aq: to cry out, call aloud for help
צָעַק
This is the verb used here: Israel’s fear becomes audible speech directed to the LORD.
tse'aqah: cry, outcry
צְעָקָה
Exodus 3:7 uses this noun from the same root for the cry the LORD hears.
הִקְרִיב
hiqriv
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
to approach, draw near, bring close
“drew near” in this verse is hiqriv. The Hebrew verb makes Pharaoh’s nearness active: he brings himself close as pursuer. The same root gives qorbān, “drawing near,” so nearness is not inherently safety; here it is pressure, while elsewhere it can name an approach to God.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near, close
קָרֹב
The adjective shares the root’s sense of nearness, making the threat’s closing distance explicit.
qorbān: drawing near; an offering brought near
קָרְבָּן
The root behind “offering” is movement toward nearness, a striking contrast with Pharaoh’s threatening approach.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צרר
ṣ-r-r
to bind, press, or constrict; the name carries the wordplay of narrow places
“Egyptians” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim gives the pursuit the shape of constriction: pressure bears down from behind while the people are sore afraid. Their cry turns toward the LORD from inside that narrowing.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: narrow, tight; an adversary
צַר
This branch joins the image of constricted space with the hostile force pressing in.
tsarah: distress, trouble
צָרָה
Distress is the felt narrowing of the available space, matching the pressure of this scene.
THE PATTERN
When danger closes in, the cry turns toward the one from whom deliverance is sought.
The aligned cry out, and the LORD hears, and snatches them out of all their narrow places.When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have compassion on me.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.The Hebrew word for “cry” in Exodus 3:7, צְעָקָה (tse’aqah, “outcry”), comes from the same root as “cried out” here. The connection makes this panic more than sound lost in danger: the same root names the cry the LORD hears.
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