Exodus 14:26

Summary

Yehovah commands Moses to stretch his hand over the sea so that the waters return upon the Egyptians, their chariots, and their horsemen. The verse consists of a divine speech introduced by a narrative formula, followed by an imperative and a purpose clause.

Key words

• va-yYomer ("and he said", H0559) — qal narrative form, marking the introduction of direct divine speech.
• neTeh ("stretch out", H5186) — qal imperative, a direct command addressed to Moses.
• yad-kha ("your hand", H3027G + H9021) — noun in construct form with pronominal suffix, specifying whose hand is to be stretched out.
• ya-Shuvu ("they may return", H7725G) — qal imperfect with prefixed ve-, expressing purpose or consequence ("so that... may return") rather than a separate independent action.
• rikh-Bo ("his chariot[s]", H7393G + H9023) and para-Shav ("his horsemen", H6571B + H9023) — construct nouns with suffixes, both governed by the preposition 'al ("over/upon", H5921A), linking the waters' action to these targets.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav-consecutive form va-yYomer, the standard formula that reports speech within the story sequence, followed by the subject Yehovah (H3068G) and the addressee marked by 'el ("to", H0413) plus Mosheh (H4872). The command itself is a single qal imperative, neTeh ("stretch out"), taking the direct object 'et-yadkha ("your hand") and the prepositional phrase 'al-hayYam ("over the sea").

The second half of the verse is joined by ve- prefixed to the imperfect verb yaShuvu ("they may return"), a construction that in Biblical Hebrew commonly expresses purpose or result following an imperative — hence "so that the waters may return." The subject of this verb is hammayim ("the waters", H4325G), and the phrase specifies three targets connected by repeated 'al ("over/upon", H5921A): Mitsrayim ("Egypt", H4714G), rikhbo ("his chariot[s]"), and parashav ("his horsemen"). The repeated construct + suffix pattern (rikhbo, parashav) ties the chariots and horsemen possessively to a single antecedent (rendered as "Egypt" collectively), producing a threefold listing of what the returning waters will cover.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds the verb ἐπικαλυψάτω ("let it cover") before listing the chariots and horsemen, a verb not present as a separate lexeme in the Hebrew, where the single verb yaShuvu ("they may return") governs the entire scope including Egypt, chariots, and horsemen. The Vulgate's revertantur aquae ("let the waters return") stays closer to the Hebrew yaShuvu, using one verb without adding a second "cover" action.