What Does Psalm 18:14 Mean in the King James?
Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
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 verb for sending these arrows is also used for releasing a people, holding force sent forth and liberation inside one root.
THE MEANING
The verse presents divine action as a direct assault: arrows are sent, lightning flashes, and the targets are scattered and thrown into confusion. It leaves the violence visible, showing power not only as impact but as the breaking of an enemy’s coherence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that divine intervention is always gentle dissolves here: the verse depicts arrows and lightning striking enemies and scattering them.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁלַח
vayyishlaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send forth or extend; when sending someone away, release or let go.
“sent out” in this verse is vayyishlaḥ. English presents the arrows as projected weapons; the Hebrew verb is shalach, whose range includes sending forth and releasing. The same root that describes force loosed against an opponent can name a people being let go, binding judgment and deliverance through one motion.
ALSO GROWS
shallaḥ: Send away; release.
שַׁלַּח
This is the imperative in Exodus 5:1, rendered “Let my people go,” joining outward sending to letting go.
shaliaḥ: Envoy; one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
An envoy carries the same root’s motion: being sent outward from another.
וַיְהֻמֵּם
wayhummēm
GROWS FROM
המם
Make a tumult; throw into confusion or dismay.
“Discomfited” can sound like a settled defeat, while hamam describes the disturbance that breaks coordination, making confusion itself part of the blow. The same root appears in Exodus 14:24, where the Lord troubles the Egyptian host.
ALSO GROWS
hamam: To make tumult or throw into confusion.
הָמַם
This verb names the destabilizing action behind the verse’s description of the targets.
wayyāhām: He troubled or threw into confusion.
וַיָּהָם
Exodus 14:24 uses this form of the same root for a host thrown into disorder.
THE PATTERN
Divine force unsettles an opposing power, scattering its formation or opening the confinement that held others.
Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.“Let my people go” uses שָׁלַח (shalach), the same root as “sent out” here. One root names arrows sent forth in judgment and people released from captivity, holding both actions in a single motion.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us