What Does Exodus 10:5 Mean in the King James?
And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew layers three kinds of survival into one phrase, the remainder, the escaped, and what is still left, and all of it remains food for the locusts.
THE MEANING
The verse shows devastation arriving in layers: what the hail leaves is still consumed by the locusts. Survival is real, but it can remain vulnerable; a remnant is not the same as restoration.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever gets through one blow is therefore secure: here, the spared remainder faces a second loss.
THE ROOT
יֶתֶר
yeter
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
Be left over; what remains, or what exceeds.
“residue” in this verse is yeter. The word names what is left over, then the verse adds separate words for what escaped and what remains. The piling up makes survival visible without promising that what survives is safe.
ALSO GROWS
hotir: Leave behind; spare.
הוֹתִיר
In Exodus 10:15, this form describes what the hail left for the locusts to eat.
yoter: More; greater; what exceeds.
יוֹתֵר
This branch carries the sense of what is left beyond a measure, echoing the residue that remains after the hail.
הַפְּלֵטָה
hapletah
GROWS FROM
פלט
p-l-ṭ
Slip away; escape from danger or capture.
“escaped” in this verse is hapletah. This word names what gets through the hail as an escapee. Escape marks survival from one force, while the verse leaves open what happens next.
ALSO GROWS
palit: Survivor; fugitive.
פָּלִיט
The related noun names one who has escaped, like the crop that gets through the hail.
palat: Escape; bring away from danger.
פָּלַט
The verb makes escape a passage out of immediate danger, not a guarantee of lasting safety.
הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת
hannish'eret
GROWS FROM
שאר
sh-ʾ-r
Remain; be left behind.
“remaineth” in this verse is hannish'eret. This is a different root from יתר (yeter, remainder): one word names what is left over, another names what remains. Together, they intensify the sense of survival while showing that survival itself is not protection.
ALSO GROWS
she'ar: Rest; remainder.
שְׁאָר
This noun names what is left, linking the verse’s remaining crop to the broader language of remnants.
she'erit: Remnant; what survives.
שְׁאֵרִית
This branch likewise names what remains after loss, without implying that the remnant is beyond further harm.
THE PATTERN
What one devastation leaves behind can become the next devastation’s food.
For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.THE THREAD
That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.In both verses, יתר (yeter, remainder) names what one force leaves behind for another to consume. Joel extends that root through a chain of swarms, making the residue here part of a repeating cycle rather than a secure endpoint.
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