What Does Psalm 136:14 Mean in the King James?
And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:
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’s middle becomes a road, held open by faithful love that reaches through every age.
THE MEANING
You stand at the center of what seems to block the way: passage opens through its midst, not by bypassing it. God’s faithful love holds the crossing and reaches beyond the moment into every age.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that deliverance requires the obstacle to disappear: here the way opens through its very middle.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲבֵר
wayyaʿăvēr
GROWS FROM
עבר
to cross, pass over, or pass through
“made ... to pass through” in this verse is wayyaʿăvēr. The causative verb says God makes the crossing happen, while the same root family also names a passage or crossing. The sea’s interior becomes a route: the obstacle’s middle is where movement happens.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to cross, pass over, or pass through
עָבַר
This is the root’s basic motion, made concrete as Israel crosses the sea.
ʿēver: the far side, beyond, or across
עֵבֶר
The crossing carries Israel across a boundary, from the sea’s midst to the other side.
maʿăvār: a passage, crossing, or ford
מַעֲבָר
The root can name both the act of crossing and the passage that lets it happen.
חַסְדּוֹ
ḥasdô
GROWS FROM
חסד
faithful love, loyal kindness
“mercy” in this verse is ḥasdô. The verse names the crossing as an expression of faithful love, not a fleeting favor. That love holds through the passage and extends לְעוֹלָם (leʿolām, “for the ages”).
ALSO GROWS
ḥesed: faithful love or loyal kindness
חֶסֶד
This is the word rendered “mercy”; it frames the crossing as an act of enduring fidelity.
ḥāsîd: a faithful or devoted person
חָסִיד
This related form describes one marked by loyalty, showing the root’s connection to faithfulness as a way of being.
THE PATTERN
The path of deliverance opens through the very depth that appears to block passage.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;THE THREAD
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.Both verses use עָבַר (ʿāvar, “cross” or “pass through”): Psalm 78 says God caused them to pass, while this verse locates their crossing in the sea’s midst. Together they reveal the passage as movement through the center of the divided waters.
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