What Does Exodus 14:5 Mean in the King James?
And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
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 heart turns when Israel is no longer serving him: his own words reveal that what he regrets losing is their labor.
THE MEANING
When someone’s freedom costs another person the service they relied on, permission can turn into hostility. Pharaoh names the loss plainly: he regrets releasing Israel from serving him. The verse exposes how “I want you back” can be a claim on what you provide.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that being wanted back proves you are valued for yourself: Pharaoh says he wants Israel back because they served him.
THE ROOT
שִׁלַּחְנוּ
shillachnu
GROWS FROM
שלח
shin-lamed-ḥet
To send forth, release, or let go.
“let ... go” in this verse is shillachnu. The word Pharaoh uses for letting Israel go is shalach, the same root that carries both sending and release. Its branches connect release with waters sent forth and with provision extended outward.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: Sent; the name associated with the waters of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The sent waters carry the image of release into restored sight (John 9:7).
shulchan: Table; provision extended.
שֻׁלְחָן
The table holds the image of what is extended outward, echoing the movement from grasping to release.
מֵעָבְדֵנוּ
me’avdenu
GROWS FROM
עבד
ayin-bet-dalet
To work, serve, or labor.
The Hebrew word translated serving and the word translated servants share the root avad. That repeated service-language exposes how Pharaoh measures Israel by the labor they provide.
ALSO GROWS
eved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
The verse calls Pharaoh’s own attendants servants, placing the people’s service inside a wider hierarchy of service.
avodah: Work or service.
עֲבֹדָה
This branch names the labor Pharaoh regrets losing: Israel’s release ends the work he counted on.
THE PATTERN
Release exposes whether power recognizes people beyond the service it can extract.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:The same root שָׁלַח (shalach, send or release) describes sending a servant out free. Here, release extends beyond the end of service: the person leaves with provision and a future of their own.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us