What Does Hebrews 11:29 Mean in the King James?
By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
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 sea is not made safe; it becomes a path for trust and the mouth that swallows what pursues.
THE MEANING
Your trust carries you through a danger that remains real: the sea opens as a path without becoming harmless. The same depth swallows the force that pursues, so passage and engulfment happen in one scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this dissolves is that deliverance can begin only after danger becomes harmless; here, the way opens while the sea still has power to swallow.
THE ROOT
κατεπόθησαν
katepóthēsan
GROWS FROM
πιν (pin), the verb stem in καταπίνω (katapínō)
Drink, take in; in the compound καταπίνω, swallow down.
“were drowned” in this verse is katepóthēsan. The Greek verb pictures the sea swallowing the Egyptians down; English names the result, while the Greek gives the water the act of taking them in. Isaiah uses this same verb for death being swallowed up in victory.
ALSO GROWS
katapínō: Swallow down, consume
καταπίνω
This is the verb behind “were drowned”; it pictures the sea taking the Egyptians in.
pínō: Drink
πίνω
The same verb stem names taking liquid inward, echoing the sea’s act of swallowing.
potḗrion: Drinking cup
ποτήριον
This word belongs to the same drinking family, showing the root’s ordinary sense of taking drink.
πίστει
pístei
GROWS FROM
πειθ (peith), from πείθω (peíthō)
Persuade, win over, bring to confidence; trust.
“faith” in this verse is pístei. Pistis carries trust as settled reliance, a weight placed on what is trusted rather than abstract assent. The contrast with the Egyptians’ attempt makes trust a way of moving through danger, not proof that danger is gone.
ALSO GROWS
peíthō: Persuade, win over, trust
πείθω
The root holds trust close to being persuaded into reliance.
pistós: Trustworthy, faithful
πιστός
Trust meets what can bear the weight placed upon it.
THE PATTERN
The consuming image turns: the language that shows a depth swallowing pursuers also names death as swallowed by victory.
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.THE THREAD
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.Hebrews uses καταπίνω (katapínō), “swallow down,” for the Egyptians being drowned; the Greek of Isaiah uses the same verb for death being swallowed up. The English says “drowned” in Hebrews and “swallow up” in Isaiah, hiding a shared root and reversing who gets swallowed.
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