What Does Psalm 78:13 Mean in the King James?
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
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 removed; its waters are held apart so an opening itself becomes the way through.
THE MEANING
A boundary that feels impassable can become a passage without ceasing to exist. The waters remain, but they are held back as the people pass through. Deliverance here is space opened within what blocks the way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a way forward requires every obstacle to disappear: here the waters remain, yet a route opens through them.
THE ROOT
וַיְבַקַּע
wayvaqqaʿ
GROWS FROM
בקע
to split or cleave open
“divided” in this verse is wayvaqqaʿ. The verb for dividing the sea comes from a root of opening by a split. Its branches can describe both a cleft in the land and a measured half, linking the opening of a way with division itself.
ALSO GROWS
biqʿah: A valley or open plain; a word associated with a cleft or opened stretch of land.
בִּקְעָה
The same root that describes the sea opening can name an opening in the land.
beqaʿ: A half-shekel measure.
בֶּקַע
The root’s sense of division also appears in a measured portion: what is split can become a defined share.
וַיַּעֲבִירֵם
wayyaʿavirem
GROWS FROM
עבר
to cross over or pass through
“caused them to pass through” in this verse is wayyaʿavirem. The verse places crossing beside splitting: the opening is not the end of the action but the space through which movement happens. The root also forms words for the far side and for a passage, carrying both the crossing and its destination.
ALSO GROWS
ʿever: The far side or what lies across.
עֵבֶר
The verb of crossing shares its root with the place reached by crossing.
maʿavar: A passage, crossing, or ford.
מַעֲבָר
The crossing root can name the route itself, as the divided sea becomes a way through.
THE PATTERN
A barrier becomes a passage when it is opened and held aside.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.THE THREAD
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.Both verses use בקע (baqaʿ, split open) for the sea’s division. Exodus shows the opening taking place; the psalm pairs that opening with עָבַר (ʿavar, cross over), making the passage through explicit.
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