What Does Exodus 14:27 Mean in the King James?
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
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
Moses, whose name is tied to being drawn out of water, stands beside a sea that now closes over Egypt.
THE MEANING
You are shown a way through that does not stay open: the sea returns to its strength, and the LORD shakes Egypt off within it. Moses, whose name is tied to being drawn out of water, stands in the same scene as Egyptians overthrown in water.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A way that opens is not automatically a lasting guarantee of safety.
THE ROOT
מֹשֶׁה
Mōsheh
GROWS FROM
מָשָׁה
To draw out, especially from water.
Exodus 2:10 links Moses’s name to the act of drawing him out of water. Here, that water-linked name stands beside the returning sea, sharpening the contrast between the one drawn out and the Egyptians shaken off within it.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: Draw out.
מָשָׁה
This verb is the seed behind the name’s water-related wordplay.
m'shītihū: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
Exodus 2:10 uses this form to connect Moses’s name with being drawn out of the water.
וַיָּשָׁב
vayashav
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
To turn back, return.
“returned” in this verse is vayashav. The verse describes more than the sea growing strong again: it turns back to its strength. That return is the pivot of the reversal, as the waters resume their force and Egypt is shaken off within them.
ALSO GROWS
hēshīv: Bring back, restore.
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form shows that the same root can describe bringing something back, echoing the sea’s return to its force.
teshuvah: Return, turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The noun preserves the root’s sense of turning back, fitting the verse’s reversal in direction.
וַיְנַעֵר
vayenaʿer
GROWS FROM
נ־ע־ר
To shake, shake out, shake off.
The Hebrew verb gives a physical image beneath “overthrew”: the LORD shakes Egypt off within the sea. The wording holds that violent act together with the sea’s return to strength.
ALSO GROWS
lenaʿer: To shake, shake out, shake off.
לְנַעֵר
The infinitive keeps the concrete motion visible beneath the English rendering.
hitnaʿari: Shake yourself free.
הִתְנַעֲרִי
Isaiah 52:2 uses this reflexive form for shaking off dust and bonds, showing the same root’s forceful image of shaking loose.
THE PATTERN
The sea’s power is not autonomous: its return, boundaries, and stillness all answer to divine command.
And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.The Hebrew verb translated “come again” is the same return-root rendered “returned” here. This verse enacts the command: the waters turn back upon Egypt, and the LORD shakes them off within the sea.
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