What Does Exodus 14:28 Mean in the King James?
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
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 waters that opened a path for Israel return as the force that covers Pharaoh’s pursuing army.
THE MEANING
The verse holds an uncompromising reversal: the waters that gave the pursued a passage now cover the chariots, horsemen, and all the host pursuing them. Not one of that host remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that a way opened for escape stays open for whatever follows; here, the returning sea closes over the pursuing host.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
wayyāšubû
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ו־ב
š-w-b
Turn back; return.
“returned” in this verse is wayyāšubû. The verb shows the waters turning back, reversing the passage that had opened through them. Deliverance and drowning become two movements of the same sea: a way for the pursued, then a closing force over the pursuers.
ALSO GROWS
hēšîb: Bring back; cause to return.
הֵשִׁיב
This form shows the root can describe something being brought back; here the waters return to cover the army.
məšûbāh: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The root can also name a turning away, making direction central: the waters turn back while the army presses onward.
THE PATTERN
The force that threatens the pursued can become the means by which their passage is secured.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.THE THREAD
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.Both verses use שׁוּב (shuv), “turn back; return,” for the sea’s movement. Verse 27 names what returns, its strength; this verse shows that returning force covering the pursuing host.
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