What Does Exodus 2:18 Mean in the King James?

And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

Exodus 2:18 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew says the daughters hurried to arrive, so the speed of their return is itself the surprise.

THE MEANING

An arrival can be so quick that its speed becomes a question in itself: why hurry to come today? The moment shows how a change in pace can be noticed before its cause is spoken.

THE ROOT

מַהַרְתֶּן

maharten

GROWS FROM

מהר

The three consonants ⁨מ־ה־ר⁩ (m-h-r; mahar) carry the sense of hurrying or acting quickly.

The rendering “so soon” carries the timing, and ⁨מהר⁩ adds the movement within it: they hurried to arrive. The surprise rests both in when they return and in the speed with which they move.

ALSO GROWS

lemaher: to hasten, to hurry

לְמַהֵר

This infinitive names the hastening beneath “so soon,” making pace part of the verse’s meaning.

maher: hurry!; act quickly!

מַהֵר

This imperative carries the same root into a direct call for swift movement.

meherah: quickly, speedily

מְהֵרָה

This adverb makes explicit the quality of movement that “so soon” conveys here.

THE PATTERN

Haste makes an inward response visible through outward movement.

And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

Genesis 24:20 · KJVThe same root ⁨מהר⁩ (mahar, to hasten) marks Rebekah’s quick response, where speed appears as purposeful action.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.

Exodus 10:16 · KJVPharaoh calls Moses and Aaron in haste, making sudden movement visible as a response to pressure.

And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

Luke 19:6 · KJVZacchaeus quickly descends and receives Jesus, so his movement makes his response visible.

THE THREAD

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.

Exodus 12:33 · KJV

“In haste” in Exodus 12:33 shares ⁨מהר⁩ (mahar, to hasten) with “so soon” in Exodus 2:18, joining the two passages through the root of hurried movement. Here that haste meets ⁨שָׁלַח⁩ (shalach, to send or release): Egypt presses the people to be sent out, carrying the movement from constriction toward release.

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