What Does Exodus 14:7 Mean?
And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and the third ones over every one of them.
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 he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.THE KEY
The word for chariots shares its root with riding, so Egypt’s force appears as an organized system in motion, with a captain over every vehicle.
THE MEANING
The verse gives pressure a visible shape: selected chariots, the full Egyptian force, and captains over every one. What confronts you can feel total because it arrives multiplied and organized; the text lets you see how that force is assembled.
THE ROOT
רֶכֶב
rekhev
GROWS FROM
רכב
r-k-b
Ride, mount, or ride upon
The same seed names the vehicle, a rider, and the act of riding; English separates these into an object, a person, and an action. The chariots are a system of mounted movement, and the captains place that movement under command.
ALSO GROWS
rakhav: to ride or mount
רָכַב
The verb names the action carried by the chariots in the verse.
rokhev: rider
רֹכֵב
The rider and the chariot belong to the same word family, joining person and vehicle.
merkavah: chariot
מֶרְכָּבָה
This related form names a chariot through the same riding root.
בָּחוּר
bachur
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
Choose or select
The word carries selection inside the description: these six hundred chariots are singled out before the verse widens to all Egypt’s chariots. The force is presented as both chosen and multiplied.
ALSO GROWS
bachar: to choose or select
בָּחַר
This verb is the action behind the chosen force named in the verse.
bachir: chosen one or elect
בָּחִיר
This form makes explicit the status of one who has been selected.
bechirah: choice or selection
בְּחִירָה
The noun keeps the act of choosing visible beneath the adjective “chosen.”
שָׁלִשִׁם
shalishim
GROWS FROM
שלש
sh-l-sh
Three; to make threefold
“the third ones” in this verse is shalishim. The officer title is commonly linked to “third” or a third position in a chariot crew, carrying an echo of rank. The verse’s captains stand over every chariot, making command part of the force’s structure.
ALSO GROWS
shalosh: three
שָׁלֹשׁ
This is the number at the root of the officer title.
shelishi: third
שְׁלִישִׁי
This related form makes the rank association audible in the title.
shillesh: to make threefold or repeat three times
שִׁלֵּשׁ
This verb shares the three-part root and shows its extended form.
THE PATTERN
Power appears overwhelming when multiplicity is organized into one force.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who lean upon horses and lean their full weight upon chariots, because they are many, and upon horsemen, because they have grown very strong. They do not look to the Set-Apart One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!Some lean their full weight on chariots, and some on horses; but we remember in the nature of the LORD our God.And he asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, "Legion is my name, for we are many."THE THREAD
Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea; his chosen third officers have sunk in the Sea of Reeds.The next verse repeats the words for chariots and chosen captains, showing the assembled force again as it enters the waters and is drowned. The shared roots connect the gathering of power with its disappearance.
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