What Does Exodus 15:1 Mean in the King James?
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into 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 (מֹשֶׁה, mōšeh), linked to מָשָׁה (māšāh, “to draw out”), stands at the center of a water reversal: the one drawn out sings as the pursuing horse and rider are hurled into the sea.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the reader living under pressure: the power pursuing you is not ultimate. Deliverance appears as release from the force bearing down, and the overthrow is not softened, the horse and rider are hurled into the sea. What is drawn out becomes a voice of song.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“The power pursuing me is too strong to end; it will always define the horizon.” The verse shows that power brought down.
THE ROOT
מֹשֶׁה
mōšeh
GROWS FROM
משה
draw out
The name Moses is tied in the text to מָשָׁה, “to draw out,” because he is named as one drawn from water. Here that water image turns around: the one drawn out sings as the horse and rider are cast into the sea.
ALSO GROWS
māšāh: to draw out
מָשָׁה
The verb supplies the action carried in Moses’ name.
mōšeh: Moses; the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name bears the root’s action as the nature of the singer.
גָּאֹה גָּאָה
gāʾōh gāʾāh
GROWS FROM
גאה
rise, be high, be exalted
“triumphed gloriously” in this verse is gāʾōh gāʾāh. The Hebrew repeats the root גאה with an infinitive absolute before the finite verb, intensifying the sense: “rising, he rose.” The LORD’s exaltation and the pursuer’s fall occupy one movement, so triumph is bound to release from constriction.
ALSO GROWS
gāʾāh: rose, was exalted
גָּאָה
This finite form carries the root’s rising into the verse’s claim of triumph.
gēʾeh: lofty, exalted
גֵּאֶה
This form shares the consonants ג־א־ה and shows the same root’s sense of being raised high.
יָשִׁיר
yāšîr
GROWS FROM
שיר
sing; make song
“sang” in this verse is yāšîr. The verb for singing and the noun for song grow from שיר. The text binds the act of singing to the song itself: victory is voiced, and that voice can be taken up by others.
ALSO GROWS
šîr: song
שִׁיר
The noun is the voiced form of the same root as “sang.”
šîrāh: song, singing
שִׁירָה
This feminine form of the same root names the song that Moses and Israel raise.
THE PATTERN
A force that appears to hold the reader in constriction is brought down, and deliverance becomes a song that can be shared.
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.And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.THE THREAD
And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.The same root שיר moves from “I will sing” in verse 1 to Miriam’s plural call, “Sing ye,” in verse 21. One voice opens the song, and the shared root lets the others take it up.
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