What Does Exodus 14:14 Mean in the King James?
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
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 LORD fights while you fall silent: the verse assigns the battle to one and the silence to the other.
THE MEANING
The LORD takes up the fight for you, and you are silent. That silence does not mean the threat is imaginary; the verse places it beside an active defense.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that silence in the face of danger means abandonment: the verse names the LORD as the one fighting for you.
THE ROOT
תַּחֲרִשׁוּן
tacharishun
GROWS FROM
חרשׁ
ḥ-r-sh
Be silent, keep quiet.
“Hold your peace” can sound like an inward calm, but the Hebrew verb says to keep silent. Beside the LORD’s fighting, that silence marks a division of action: the fight is underway, and your voice does not have to produce the defense.
ALSO GROWS
cheresh: Deaf; one who does not hear.
חֵרֵשׁ
This related form connects silence with not hearing, giving the verse’s quiet a sense of withheld response rather than emotional calm.
tacharishun: You will keep silent.
תַּחֲרִשׁוּן
This is the form used in the verse: the people’s silence stands directly beside the LORD’s action.
יִלָּחֵם
yillachem
GROWS FROM
לחם
l-ḥ-m
Fight, contend in battle.
“fight” in this verse is yillachem. The Hebrew assigns the combat to the LORD; this is not merely a call to feel brave. The same root names war, so the promise keeps its force as a real struggle in which the LORD fights on your behalf.
ALSO GROWS
milchamah: War, battle.
מִלְחָמָה
This noun from the same root makes the conflict in the verse concrete: the LORD takes up the battle.
vayillachem: And he fought.
וַיִּלָּחֶם
The same verb appears when the text later says the LORD fought against the Egyptians, showing the promise becoming action.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD takes up a conflict, the threatened person is not left to secure deliverance through their own force or vengeance.
The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.THE THREAD
And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.The verb translated “fighteth” comes from the same root as “fight” in verse 14. The later verse gives the promise its concrete edge: the LORD’s fight is against the Egyptians, and the text does not soften that violence.
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