Exodus 14:25-27

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 14:25 tn The word in the text is וַיָּסַר (vayyasar), which would be translated “and he turned aside” with the sense perhaps of removing the wheels. The reading in the LXX, Smr, and Syriac suggests a root אָסַר (ʾasar, “to bind”). The sense here might be “clogged—presumably by their sinking in the wet sand” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 120).
2. Exodus 14:25 tn The clause is וַיְנַהֲגֵהוּ בִּכְבֵדֻת (vay^enahagehu bikh^evedut). The verb means “to drive a chariot”; here in the Piel it means “cause to drive.” The suffix is collective, and so the verbal form can be translated “and caused them to drive.” The idea of the next word is “heaviness” or “hardship”; it recalls the previous uses of related words to describe Pharaoh’s heart. Here it indicates that the driving of the crippled chariots was with difficulty.
3. Exodus 14:25 tn The cohortative has the hortatory use here, “Let’s flee.” Although the form is singular, the sense of it is plural and so hortatory can be used. The form is singular to agree with the singular subject, “Egypt,” which obviously means the Egyptian army. The word for “flee” is used when someone runs from fear of imminent danger and is a different word than the one used in 14:5.
4. Exodus 14:25 tn The form is the Niphal participle; it is used as the predicate here, that is, the verbal use: “the Lord is fighting.” This corresponds to the announcement in v. 14.
5. Exodus 14:26 tn The verb, “and they will return,” is here subordinated to the imperative preceding it, showing the purpose of that act.
6. Exodus 14:27 tn The Hebrew term לְאֵיתָנוֹ (l^eʾetano) means “to its place,” or better, “to its perennial state.” The point is that the sea here had a normal level, and now when the Egyptians were in the sea on the dry ground the water would return to that level.
7. Exodus 14:27 tn Heb “at the turning of the morning”; NASB, NIV, TEV, CEV “at daybreak.”
8. Exodus 14:27 tn The clause begins with the disjunctive vav (ו) on the noun, signaling either a circumstantial clause or a new beginning. It could be rendered, “Although the Egyptians…Yahweh…” or “as the Egyptians….”
9. Exodus 14:27 tn The verb means “shake out” or “shaking off.” It has the significance of “throw downward.” See Neh 5:13 or Job 38:13.