Exodus 14:30

Summary

The verse reports that Yehovah delivered Israel from the hand of Egypt on that day, and that Israel then saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. The sentence divides into two parts joined by narrative sequence: first the act of deliverance, then Israel's visual confirmation of it.

Key words

• va-yYosha' ("he delivered", H3467) — Hiphil (causative) form with narrative vav, marking Yehovah as the causer of salvation; the causative stem indicates Yehovah actively brought about the deliverance rather than Israel achieving it themselves.
• mi-Yad ("from the hand of", H3027) — construct noun preceded by the preposition mi ("from"), forming the phrase "from the hand of Egypt," a construct chain expressing possession/power (Egypt's hand/power).
• va-yYar' ("it saw", H7200) — Qal (simple) narrative form; unlike the causative verb in the first clause, this is a plain action verb, marking a shift from divine action to human perception.
• met ("dead", H4191) — Qal participle, masculine singular; describes the ongoing state of the Egyptians as observed by Israel, not a finite verb but a descriptive predicate attached to mitzRayim ("Egypt", H4714).
• sePat ("shore of", H8193) — construct noun forming a construct chain with haYam ("the sea", H3220): "shore of the sea."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two coordinated clauses joined by narrative vav (H9001), each introduced by a verb in the narrative (preterite) form: vaYosha' ("and he delivered") and vaYar' ("and it/he saw"). This construction chains two sequential events: first Yehovah's action, then Israel's perception. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) appears twice, marking Yisra'El ("Israel", H3478) as object of the first verb and mitzRayim ("Egypt", H4714) as object of the second, without being translated itself.

The phrase mi-Yad mitzRayim uses a construct chain literally meaning "from the hand of Egypt," an idiom denoting removal from someone's power or control. In the second clause, the participle met ("dead", H4191) functions predicatively, describing the state in which Israel found Egypt — not a separate finite verb "died" but a static description: "Israel saw Egypt, dead, on the shore of the sea." The construct chain sePat haYam ("shore of the sea") locates this scene spatially.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mitzRayim (singular, "Egypt") as plural τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ("the Egyptians") in both occurrences, where the Hebrew uses the singular collective form mitzRayim (H4714) throughout. The LXX also omits any equivalent to the participle met ("dead", H4191) in the clause about Israel seeing Egypt, stating only that Israel "saw the Egyptians ... by the shore of the sea," without the descriptor found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) as given only translates the first clause of the verse (the deliverance), omitting the second clause about Israel seeing Egypt dead on the shore.