What Does Exodus 5:21 Mean in the King James?
And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.
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 verse makes the threatened people’s “savour” a literal stench: their standing has become foul in Pharaoh’s eyes.
THE MEANING
Pressure can make movement toward release look like the cause of the danger. The verse names the stakes without softening them: contempt in Pharaoh’s sight and a sword in the hands of those who can kill. It holds threatened violence and the painful turn of blame together.
THE ROOT
הִבְאַשְׁתֶּם
hib'ashtem
GROWS FROM
באש
b-ʾ-sh
To stink or become foul; by extension, to become odious.
“abhorred” in this verse is hib'ashtem. Hebrew places the noun for scent beside a verb meaning to stink, turning social rejection into a sensory image. Their scent has become repellent under Pharaoh’s gaze.
ALSO GROWS
u-va'ash: Stinks or becomes foul.
וּבָאַשׁ
The same root describes the river’s literal stench in Exodus 7:18, showing the sensory force beneath “abhorred.”
nib'ash: Became repellent or hateful to others.
נִבְאַשׁ
In 1 Samuel 13:4, the root describes Israel becoming odious to the Philistines; here, too, rejection is expressed as foulness.
רֵיחֵנוּ
re'achenu
GROWS FROM
ריח
r-y-ḥ
Smell, scent, or odor.
The Hebrew keeps the scent inside the accusation: their “savour” is made to stink. The same scent word can describe an aroma received as pleasing elsewhere, so the image turns on how that scent is received.
ALSO GROWS
vayyaraḥ: Smelled or perceived an odor.
וַיָּרַח
In Genesis 8:21, this same root describes the LORD smelling a pleasing aroma, keeping the word grounded in literal scent.
re'ach nichoach: A pleasing or soothing scent.
רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ
The same noun names an aroma received as pleasing; here, that scent has become foul in Pharaoh’s eyes.
יֵרֶא
yera'
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
To see, look at, or perceive.
“look” in this verse is yera'. The appeal begins by asking the LORD to see the accusation and its consequences. Elsewhere, the same root can carry the sense of seeing to a need, adding the possibility of attention that acts.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: To see, look at, or perceive.
רָאָה
This is the basic sense of the verb in the appeal: the LORD is asked to look upon the situation.
yir'eh: Will see to or provide for something.
יִרְאֶה
In Genesis 22:8, the root is rendered “will provide”; seeing can mean seeing to what is needed, not merely watching.
THE PATTERN
Under threat, the agent of release can be mistaken for the source of the danger.
And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.THE THREAD
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.The same באש (ba’ash, “stink”) root names the river’s literal stench there and the people’s rejection here. Paired with רֵיחַ (re’ach, “scent”), it makes their public standing foul in a bodily, unmistakable image.
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