What Does Exodus 15:3 Mean in the King James?
The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
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 LORD’s name is revealed through action: the one who releases the constrained is a fighter.
THE MEANING
The LORD stands as one who confronts what confines and holds people in bondage. Here, the name is joined to action: the LORD fights.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the LORD’s nature is only passive gentleness; the verse names conflict as part of that nature.
THE ROOT
מִלְחָמָה
milḥāmāh
GROWS FROM
לחם
to fight, engage in battle
The word for war grows from a root of fighting, so the verse presents conflict as active engagement, not a distant condition. Beside “the LORD is his name,” that action reveals the nature named.
ALSO GROWS
lāḥam: to fight, wage battle
לָחַם
The verb makes explicit the action contained in the noun “war.”
loḥem: fighter, warrior
לוֹחֵם
This branch names the one who acts, echoing the verse’s image of the LORD as a warrior.
THE PATTERN
The LORD is portrayed as actively confronting what threatens or confines life.
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.THE THREAD
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.“Fight” here comes from the same Hebrew root, לחם, as “war” in Exodus 15:3. The noun names the nature; this verse shows that nature in action.
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