What Does Exodus 2:13 Mean in the King James?

And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

Exodus 2:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

A shared identity does not make the blow smaller; it makes the struck person impossible to reduce to an opponent.

THE MEANING

Moses names the injured man as the striker’s fellow even as he calls the striker wicked. The question makes the bond between them visible inside the violence: the blow lands on another person and on their shared relation.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that violence only comes from outsiders: here one Hebrew strikes another.

THE ROOT

תַכֶּה

takkéh

GROWS FROM

נכה

n-k-h

To strike, smite, or wound.

“smitest” in this verse is takkéh. This verb repeats the ⁨נכה⁩ (n-k-h, strike) root used for the Egyptian striking a Hebrew in Exodus 2:11. The hand has changed, but the action has not; now the person struck is named as the striker’s fellow.

ALSO GROWS

nāḵāh: To strike, smite, or wound.

נָכָה

This verbal form shares the root of the blow Moses confronts here.

makkāh: A blow, wound, or plague.

מַכָּה

The noun makes the root’s action visible as an injury inflicted on someone.

THE PATTERN

Violence first seen as force from outside can reappear within a community, wounding both a person and the bond between them.

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Exodus 2:11 · KJVAn Egyptian’s blow against a Hebrew is followed by a Hebrew striking another Hebrew.

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Genesis 4:8 · KJVThe violence falls between brothers, and the text names their bond even as one kills the other.

But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Galatians 5:15 · KJVThe image of people consuming one another shows how violence within a community can destroy the community itself.

THE THREAD

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Exodus 2:11 · KJV

The Hebrew verb for striking in both scenes comes from ⁨נכה⁩ (n-k-h, strike). First an Egyptian strikes a Hebrew; then a Hebrew strikes a Hebrew, while Moses calls the injured man his fellow.

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