Exodus 14:27

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

Full analysis ↓

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Word by word

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וַיְנַעֵ֧ר

nâʻar

H5287

“and · to shake”

Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 11× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root [probably identical with H5286 , through the idea of the rustling of mane, which usually accompanies the lion's roar]

TWOT: 1388

to shake, shake out or off - (Qal) to shake out, show emptiness - (Niphal) - to be shaken - to shake oneself - (Piel) to shake off or out - (Hithpael) to shake oneself

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

20: words
16: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וַיְנַעֵ֧ר to shake H5287 — appearing just 11 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

וַיְנַעֵ֧ר to shake H5287

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וַיְנַעֵ֧ר to shake H5287 occurs in 9 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

6 verbs
10 nouns
1 adjective
1 preposition
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיֵּט֩ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיָּ֨שָׁב Qal · Sequential Imperfect
לִפְנ֥וֹת Qal · Infinitive Construct
נָסִ֣ים Qal · Participle Active
לִקְרָאת֑וֹ Qal · Infinitive Construct
וַיְנַעֵ֧ר Piel · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

הַיָּ֗ם sea H3220 ×3
וּמִצְרַ֖יִם Egypt H4714 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 35 words from the Hebrew and 38 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 20 Hebrew tokens and 32 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 14:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Joshua 4:18 It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh were come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.
Psalms 78:53 He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
Deuteronomy 11:4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day;
Hebrews 11:29 By faith, they passed through the Red sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
Exodus 14:21–22 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exodus 15:1–21 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
Judges 5:20–21 From the sky the stars fought, From their courses they fought against Sisera.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 14:27 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֵּט֩ מֹשֶׁ֨ה אֶת יָד֜וֹ עַל הַיָּ֗ם וַיָּ֨שָׁב הַיָּ֜ם לִפְנ֥וֹת בֹּ֨קֶר֙ לְאֵ֣יתָנ֔וֹ וּמִצְרַ֖יִם נָסִ֣ים לִקְרָאת֑וֹ וַיְנַעֵ֧ר יְהוָ֛ה אֶת מִצְרַ֖יִם בְּת֥וֹךְ הַיָּֽם

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 14:27 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐκτείνω δέ μωυσῆς ὁ χείρ ἐπί ὁ θάλασσα καί ἀπο καταἵστημι ὁ ὕδωρ πρός ἡμέρα ἐπί χώρα ὁ δέ αἰγύπτιος φεύγω ὑπό ὁ ὕδωρ καί ἐκτινάσσω κύριος ὁ αἰγύπτιος μέσος ὁ θάλασσα

And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the water returned to its place toward day; and the Egyptians fled from the water, and the Lord shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וַאֲרֵים משֶׁה יָת יְדֵהּ עַל יַמָא וְתָב יַמָא לְעִדַן צַפְרָא לְתָקְפֵּהּ וּמִצְרָאֵי עָרְקִין לְקַדָמוּתֵהּ וְשַׁנִיק יְיָ יָת מִצְרָאֵי בְּגוֹ יַמָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאַרְכַן משֶׁה יַת יְדֵיהּ עַל יַמָא וְתַב יַמָא לְעִידוֹנֵי צַפְרָא לְתוּקְפֵיהּ וּמִצְרָאֵי עַרְקִין כָּל קְבֵיל גְּלָלוֹי וְעַלִּים יְיָ יַת מִצְרָאֵי בְּגוֹ יַמָא דְלָא יְמוּתוּן בְּמִצְעֵי מִן בִּגְלַל דִּיקַבְּלוּן פּוּרְעָנוּת דְּמִשְׁתַּלְחָא לְהוֹן

And Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned at the time of the morning unto its strength; and the Mizraee fled from before its waves. And the Lord strengthened the Mizraee in the midst of the sea, that they should not (soon) die in the midst of it, that they might receive the punishment which had been sent to them.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 14:27 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 14:27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

Ver. 27. Returned to his strength.] For by being divided, it had been weakened. Si collidimur, frangimur. The daughter of dissension is dissolution.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Exo 14:27. The sea returned to its strength — Its force had, as it were, been checked and held back by the reins of the divine power; but now full scope is given to its impetuous rage. The expression implies that the sea returned not leisurely, as in ordinary tides, but rushed upon them precipitately.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

So the Lord by the water saved his, and by the water drowned his enemies.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, &c.--What circumstances could more clearly demonstrate the miraculous character of this transaction than that at the waving of Moses' rod, the dividing waters left the channel dry, and on his making the same motion on the opposite side, they returned, commingling with instantaneous fury? Is such the character of any ebb tide?

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) When the morning appeared.—This would be about five o’clock. The light showed the Egyptian their danger. The white-crested waves were seen advancing on either side, and threatening to fill up the channel. The Egyptians had to race against them; but in vain. Their chariot wheels clogged, themselves and their horses encumbered with heavy armour, they made but slow way over the soft and slimy ground; and while they were still far from shore, the floods were upon them, and overwhelmed them. In this way God “overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea,.... Or towards it, as he was ordered, the rod being in his hand, as before observed:

and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; being no longer detained by a superior power, contrary to the nature of it, to stand still as an heap, and firm as a wall, its waves came down and rolled with their usual force and strength, or it returned to its usual course:

at the appearance of the morning in its strength; when the morning looked forth in its first light and brightness, when it was broad day:

and the Egyptians fled against it; against the waves that came rolling down upon them: or "at meeting it" (u), for as they turned their backs on the Israelites and fled, the waters of the sea met them, as well as fell on each side of them, or rather over them, and followed after them, and closed and shut them up on all sides; so that it was in vain for them to flee, for let them go which way they would, the sea was against them:

and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea; or shook them "off" or "out" (w); out of their chariots, blew them out with the wind; for as there was a wind made use of to divide the waters of the sea, and make the bottom of it dry, there was another to cause the waters to return to their former place; see Exo 15:10 or the waves of the sea dashed them out of their chariots, or through the force of them they were overturned in it.

(u) "in occursum ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "obviam mare", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (w) Sept. "et excussit", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "sic excussit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Overthrew the Egyptians - Better as in the margin, The Lord shook them off, hurled them from their chariots into the sea.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The sea returned to his strength; to its natural and it ordinary course and motion, which is swift and strong, which had been hitherto restrained by a stronger hand, and rendered in a manner impotent and weak. But now, Samson-like, when its bonds are broken, it puts forth its former and natural strength. But indeed this word may belong to the morning, and so a learned man translates the place, and that very agreeably to the use and order of the Hebrew words, The sea returned, to wit, to its course, when the morning appeared according to, or in his strength, i.e. when it was full and clear morning; as we oft read of the strength of the day. See Gen 7:13; Job 21:23. So the strength of the morning is here opposed to the morning watch.

Against it; against the sea, for which way soever they fled the waters met them, and fought against them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

27. When the morning appeared — At the turning of the morning — approach of dawn. Then the entanglement of the bemired chariots and horses, the changing wind, which blew the blinding rain and spray directly into the faces of the Egyptians, now struggling towards their own shore, and the darkness, intensified by the lightnings, all conspired with the waters, suddenly returning in their overwhelming might, to make their destruction complete.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

לפנות בקר AT THE TURNING OF THE MORNING at the time when the morning turns to come).

לאיתנו means TO ITS ORIGINAL STRENGTH (Mekhilta).

נסים לקראתו FLED TOWARDS IT — because they were thrown into confusion and were bewildered and on that account ran towards it.

וינער ה AND THE LORD OVERTHREW (or, shook out or emptied out) — as a person empties out a pot, turning what is on top underneath and what is underneath on top: thus they were emptied out of their chariots and they rose and fell till at last they were broken to pieces in the sea, and the Holy One, blessed be He, put vitality (strength) in them so that they could bear the pain (and thus their agony was protracted) (cf. Mekhilta).

וינער — Onkelos renders this by ושניק which is an expression for confounding in Aramaic, and there are many examples of it in the Agadic expositions.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 20 words (16 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nâʻar (“to shake”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to shake” (nâʻar) shape what this verse is saying?
The word “to shake” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Judges 16:20 shares the word «to shake» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“sea” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַיֵּט֩» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 20 Hebrew ↔ 32 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 20 words in this verse.
“sea” occurs 3× in this single verse.
16 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 20 words in this verse.