Exodus 14:13–14
Moses to the people, with the Egyptians behind them: “YHWH will fight for you”
Study it word by word13Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and see the salvation of YHWH, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see them again.
14YHWH will fight for you, and you will keep silent.”
In its context
11They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?
12Is not this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
…
15YHWH said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the sons of Israel, that they move on.
16And you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, so that the sons of Israel may go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.
Its words in the original
- יֹּאמֶרyomer· say
Say, speak. The most common verb for bringing in what someone says; sometimes "think" (say to oneself) or "command".
- מֹשֶׁהmoshe· Moses
Moses, the man God called to bring Israel out of Egypt and through whom he gave the Law. His name sounds like "draw out" (Exodus 2:10).
- עָםam· people
People: a human group joined by kinship, history and destiny. "My people", said by God, is Israel. Also the people as a crowd, or troops.
- תִּירָאוּtirau· fear
Fear. It can be fright before a danger or deep reverence before God ("fear YHWH"). In some forms, be fearsome, awesome.
- הִתְיַצְבוּhityatsvu· take one's stand
Take one's stand, stand firm in a place, present oneself.
- רְאוּreu· see
See. Also look, observe, notice, consider; in some forms, "appear" or "show".
- יְשׁוּעַתyeshuat· salvation
Salvation: the help with which God delivers from danger; also victory. The name "Jesus" (Yeshua) comes from the same root.
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- יַעֲשֶׂהyaase· do, make
Do, make, in the widest sense: build, produce, carry out, keep (a command), prepare.
- יּוֹםyom· day
Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").
- מִצְרַיִםmitsrayim· Egyptian
Egyptian.
- תֹסִיפוּtosifu· add, do again
Add; do again, keep doing.
- עוֹלָםolam· forever, eternal
A very long time whose end cannot be seen: looking forward, "forever"; looking back, "of old", "ancient".
- יִלָּחֵםyilachem· fight; eat
Fight, wage war. In a few passages, another verb with the same letters: eat (Proverbs 23:1).
- תַּחֲרִישׁוּtacharishu· be silent; plow, engrave
Be silent, keep quiet, let something pass. The same Hebrew form also means plow, engrave, and devise or plot.