Exodus 14:23

Summary

Exodus 14:23 narrates the Egyptian pursuit: after the Israelites cross, Egypt chases and follows them, with Pharaoh's entire cavalry force — horses, chariotry, and horsemen — entering into the middle of the sea. The verse uses two sequential narrative verbs to mark first the pursuit, then the actual entry into the sea.

Key words

• yirdephu ("they pursued", H7291) — qal narrative (wayyiqtol) form; the first of two sequential main verbs, establishing the initial action of chasing.
• yavo'u ("they went/entered", H0935G) — second wayyiqtol verb, marking the subsequent stage: after pursuing, they physically enter the sea.
• kol sus ("every horse of", H3605 + H5483M) — kol in construct with a singular noun sus, an idiomatic Hebrew way of expressing a collective totality ("all the horses") while keeping the noun grammatically singular.
• rikbo ("his chariotry", H7393G + H9023) — construct noun with 3ms possessive suffix, referring to Pharaoh's chariotry as a unit belonging to him.
• tokh ha-yam ("the middle of the sea", H8432 + H3220G) — construct phrase indicating the specific location the pursuers reach, preceded by the preposition 'el ("into").

What the text says

The verse is built on two chained narrative verbs, yirdephu ("they pursued") and yavo'u ("they went"), both qal wayyiqtol forms that in Biblical Hebrew narrative indicate consecutive events: first the pursuit begins, then the act of entering follows. The subject of the first verb is Mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4713), a collective proper noun functioning as the pursuing party. The phrase acharehem ("after them", H0310A + H9038) specifies the direction of the second verb, entering "after them."

The list that follows — kol sus Par'oh rikhbo u-farashav — is a chain of construct nouns: "every horse of Pharaoh, his chariotry, and his horsemen." Grammatically, sus ("horse") remains singular even though kol gives it a collective, all-encompassing sense ("all the horse[s]"). The possessive suffixes on rikbo ("his chariotry") and farashav ("his horsemen") tie both nouns back to Pharaoh, marking them as extensions of his military force. This entire construct chain functions as an appositional restatement of who is doing the pursuing/entering, elaborating on the general subject "Egypt" named earlier. The final phrase, 'el tokh ha-yam ("into the midst of the sea"), uses the construct noun tokh ("middle of") to specify the precise location reached — the interior of the sea, not merely its edge.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the collective kol sus ("every horse") as πᾶς ἵππος, keeping the singular form, but separates the list with additional καί conjunctions, presenting "horse," "chariots" (τὰ ἅρματα, plural), and "horsemen" as more clearly independent coordinated subjects rather than a tight construct chain. The Vulgate uses equitatus ("cavalry," a collective abstract noun) for sus, shifting from the Hebrew's individual-noun-with-collective-sense construction to an inherently collective Latin term, while preserving the possessive on currus eius ("his chariots"), paralleling the Hebrew suffix on rikbo.