What Does Psalm 78:45 Mean in the King James?
He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed 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 Hebrew word for “sent” also means “release”: what is released becomes the force that devours and destroys.
THE MEANING
The verse holds sending and destruction together: what God sends devours, and the frogs bring ruin. Its force remains stark; the devastation is not softened or explained away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The idea that divine action is always gentle and never destructive cannot stand beside this verse: here, what God sends destroys.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁלַח
yishlaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send forth; release.
The Hebrew verb behind “sent” belongs to a word-family about sending forth and releasing. Here, release is the means by which judgment enters: the swarms devour, and the frogs destroy.
ALSO GROWS
shillēaḥ: Send away; dismiss.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This form makes the releasing sense explicit, sharpening the force of what is sent into the verse.
shālīaḥ: Envoy; one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
A messenger is defined by being sent forth, showing how the same root links sending with what carries the sender’s action.
THE PATTERN
When destructive forces are released under divine authority, they enter human territory as instruments of judgment.
Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.THE THREAD
And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.The Hebrew verb behind “let my people go” is shalach, the same root as “sent” in this verse. The root joins the demand to release the people with the sending of the swarms, holding deliverance and judgment in one word-family.
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