What Does Exodus 14:15 Mean?
And the LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the children of Israel, and let them journey.
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 the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:THE KEY
The command “go forward” also carries the sense of setting out, so departure begins before the sea parts.
THE MEANING
You can meet a boundary that looks impassable; the word reaches that point as a call to set out. Movement begins while the opening is still ahead.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a visible route must come before any real movement.
THE ROOT
וְיִסָּעוּ
wəyissāʿū
GROWS FROM
נ־ס־ע
n-s-ʿ
To set out, depart on a journey.
“journey” in this verse is wəyissāʿū. The root names departure itself: the people are to leave the place where they are stopped. The passage from blockage begins with setting out, before the sea opens into a visible path.
ALSO GROWS
nāsaʿ: To set out, depart, or travel.
נָסַע
This verb makes “go forward” a concrete departure, not merely a direction on a map.
massāʿ: A journey or stage of a journey.
מַסָּע
This related noun presents departure as a passage actually traveled.
דַּבֵּר
dabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; the same root also names a word or matter.
“speak” in this verse is dabber. The root holds speech and matter together: what is spoken can concern the concrete thing at hand. Here, the word is a direction that meets the people in their blocked movement.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke or addressed.
דִּבֵּר
This verb names the act of speaking that brings the direction into the moment.
dābār: A word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The shared root connects spoken direction with the matter it addresses: the people’s next movement.
THE PATTERN
A passage can begin with a step while the way through is still closed.
By trust Abraham, called to go out into a place he would receive as an inheritance, heard and responded, and went out, not knowing where he was going.And as those who lifted the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who lifted it were immersed in the edge of the waters. For the Jordan fills over all its banks throughout the time of harvest. And the waters which came down from above stood and rose as a single heap, very far from the city Adam, beside Zaretan. And those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, were used up and cut off. And the people crossed over facing Jericho.And he said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, the Sent. So he went and washed, and came seeing.THE THREAD
And when the cloud was lifted from over the tent, then after that the children of Israel pulled up; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.The word rendered “journeyed” comes from the same root as “go forward” here: to set out on a journey. In Numbers the cloud’s movement marks departure; in Exodus the spoken command marks departure before the sea opens.
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