What Does Exodus 14:8 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
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 is made firm for pursuit at the very moment Israel’s raised-hand departure is already visible.
THE MEANING
Pharaoh’s heart is made firm toward pursuit while Israel is already out of Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם, Mitzrayim: the narrowing), hand lifted high. You can be leaving a constriction while its pressure still moves after you; pursuit does not undo departure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that pursuit behind you proves you have not truly left.
THE ROOT
וַיְחַזֵּק
wayḥazzēq
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
Be strong, become firm; strengthen or make firm.
The verb names Pharaoh’s heart being made firm, and the firmness takes the form of pursuit. This same root can speak of strength as well as resistance, so “hardened” also carries the force of a resolve made strong.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong, become firm, prevail.
חָזַק
This is the root’s verbal sense: firmness can become perseverance or resistance according to the direction it serves.
ḥăzāqāh: Strong, firm (feminine form).
חֲזָקָה
This form describes the “strong hand” in Exodus 6:1, where firmness becomes the force that compels Pharaoh to release Israel.
בְּיָד רָמָה
bəyād rāmāh
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
Rise, be high, lift up.
“with an high hand” in this verse is bəyād rāmāh. The phrase holds a bodily image: Israel goes out with a hand raised high. The departure is visible and bold, not a hidden inward change.
ALSO GROWS
rûm: Rise, be high.
רוּם
The root makes the raised quality of the hand part of the verse’s picture of departure.
hērîm: Lift, raise.
הֵרִים
This related verb makes the phrase’s lifted, outward gesture concrete.
THE PATTERN
Strengthened resolve takes its character from the direction it serves.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;THE THREAD
Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.The verb translated “hardened” comes from חזק (ḥ-z-q, make strong or firm), the same root behind “strong” in the strong hand. This promise reveals the other edge of that root: Pharaoh is made firm toward pursuit, while the LORD’s strong hand brings release.
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