What Does Exodus 11:8 Mean in the King James?
And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.
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
Pharaoh’s own servants bow before Moses and command the exit Pharaoh refused to grant.
THE MEANING
A power that claims to control the way out does not own it forever; even those who serve it can become the voices that name the exit. Here, Pharaoh’s servants bow to Moses and tell him to leave with the people who follow him. Moses goes out in great anger; the way opens without making the fury disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The ruler who refuses an exit still controls the last word: here, his own servants speak the departure he withheld.
THE ROOT
וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ
ve-hishtachavu
GROWS FROM
שחה
sh-ḥ-h
to bow down, to bend oneself
“bow down” in this verse is ve-hishtachavu. The Hebrew form names a bodily act of bending, not a vague gesture of respect. Pharaoh’s own servants lower themselves before Moses as they voice the demand that he leave with the people.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: The basic verb for bowing or prostrating oneself.
שָׁחָה
It makes the posture in the verse concrete: the servants physically bend before Moses.
hishtachavah: The reflexive form, to bow oneself down.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
The verse uses this form, placing the act of bending on Pharaoh’s servants themselves.
עֲבָדֶיךָ
avadekha
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
to work, to serve
The same root holds both the person who serves and the service or labor itself. The reversal begins inside Pharaoh’s own circle: his servants bow to Moses and give voice to the departure.
ALSO GROWS
eved: A servant or one who works in another’s service.
עֶבֶד
This is the noun behind “thy servants,” keeping their relationship to Pharaoh in view even as they bow to Moses.
avodah: Service, labor, or work.
עֲבֹדָה
It shows how the root connects the servant to the service they perform, sharpening the role reversal in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The bowed body makes a change or recognition of authority visible.
And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;THE THREAD
And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.“I will go out” in this verse and “get you forth” in the next use forms of יָצָא (yatsa, to go out or come forth). The exit Moses names becomes the command Pharaoh himself gives.
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