What Does Exodus 2:15 Mean in the King James?

Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:15 · 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

Hebrew uses the same verb for Moses both dwelling in Midian and sitting by the well: his flight becomes a place to settle.

THE MEANING

A forced departure does not erase the possibility of settling somewhere new. The danger is real, Pharaoh seeks Moses’ life, yet Moses is also in Midian, beside a well.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that leaving danger means having nowhere to land: Moses leaves Pharaoh’s reach, settles in Midian, and sits beside a well.

THE ROOT

וַיֵּשֶׁב

vayyēshev

GROWS FROM

ישב

to sit, remain, or dwell

“dwelt / sat down” in this verse is vayyēshev. The same verb appears first for Moses dwelling in Midian and then for him sitting by the well. Hebrew joins the long relocation and the immediate pause: Moses is not only fleeing; he is taking a place beside water.

ALSO GROWS

moshav: dwelling place, seat

מוֹשָׁב

This word for a settled place grows from the same root, echoing Moses’ move from flight into a place where he can dwell.

yoshēv: one who sits or dwells; an inhabitant

יוֹשֵׁב

The inhabitant carries the same root as the one who sits, keeping residence and bodily presence joined.

וַיִּבְרַח

vayyivraḥ

GROWS FROM

ברח

to flee or escape

“fled” in this verse is vayyivraḥ. The verb names Moses’ movement out of Pharaoh’s reach. In Genesis, the same root describes Hagar fleeing from someone’s face; the repeated shape links escape from coercive power with the arrival at water.

ALSO GROWS

berichah: flight, escape

בְּרִיחָה

This noun makes the act of fleeing into a state or passage, matching Moses’ abrupt movement away from danger.

beriach: bar, bolt

בְּרִיחַ

A related noun names a bar or bolt, bringing a barrier into the same word family as flight and sharpening the image of Moses crossing beyond Pharaoh’s grasp.

THE PATTERN

A well becomes a meeting point where a pressured journey pauses and opens into encounter.

And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

Genesis 16:7 · KJVA woman driven into the wilderness is found beside water, where her flight opens into an encounter.

And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.

Genesis 24:11 · KJVA journey pauses at the well, where the drawing of water becomes the setting for a meeting.

Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

John 4:6 · KJVA weary traveler sits at a well, where a conversation begins.

THE THREAD

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

Genesis 16:6 · KJV

Hagar’s verb ⁨בָּרַח⁩ (barach, “flee” or “escape”) is the same root used for Moses, and both flee “from the face” of someone with power over them. The next verse places Hagar beside a wilderness spring; Moses’ flight likewise ends beside a well.

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