What Does Exodus 4:19 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
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 one named “drawn out” is sent back into Mitzrayim, the narrow place, only after the men seeking his life have died.
THE MEANING
The road back into constriction opens now because the people seeking your life are dead. The return meets a changed reality: the pursuit that made the way dangerous no longer has living pursuers.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a place made dangerous by pursuit can never be entered again dissolves here: the pursuers are dead, so the way back is open.
THE ROOT
שׁוּב
shuv
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ו־ב
sh-w-b
Turn back; return.
The command pairs “go” with שׁוּב (shuv, “turn back, return”), giving the journey a direction of return. The place is the same, but the fact that the pursuers are dead changes what returning means in this moment.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: returning, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch makes return a change of direction, not simply a reappearance in a place.
meshiv: one who brings back, restores
מֵשִׁיב
The root can describe bringing back as well as turning back, linking return with restoration.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צ־ר־ר
tz-r-r
Bind in, press in, constrict; the name is heard through tzar, “narrow.”
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim carries the image of narrowness, so the command sends the one drawn out back into a constricted place. Yet the men who sought his life are dead: the way into narrowness is no longer governed by their pursuit.
ALSO GROWS
tzar: narrow; a constricting adversary
צַר
The same word can name both narrowness and an adversary, echoing how the pursuers press the route closed.
meitzar: a strait, narrow place, distress
מֵצַר
Distress can be pictured as a narrow place, giving Egypt’s name a sense of constriction beyond geography.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
m-sh-h
Draw out.
Moses’ name is explained through being drawn from the water. The one whose name carries that drawing out is now directed back into the narrow place, with the threat to his life removed.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This verb supplies the name’s own explanation: Moses is named for being drawn out of the water.
meshitihu: I drew him out
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
The form in the naming scene makes the name a record of an act of drawing out.
THE PATTERN
A threat that once closes a route can lose its hold, making return or escape possible again.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.THE THREAD
Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.The Hebrew word translated “return” in Exodus and “turn” here comes from שׁוּב (shuv, “turn back, return”). Zechariah repeats the root in both directions, showing that it names a change of direction, not merely retracing a route.
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