Exodus 14:8
וַיְחַזֵּק יְהֹוָה אֶת־לֵב פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם וַיִּרְדֹּף אַחֲרֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יֹצְאִים בְּיָד רָמָֽה׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיְחַזֵּ֣ק יְהֹוָ֗ה אֶת־לֵ֤ב פַּרְעֹה֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם וַיִּרְדֹּ֕ף אַחֲרֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל יֹצְאִ֖ים בְּיָ֥ד רָמָֽה׃
καὶ ἐσκλήρυνεν κύριος τὴν καρδίαν Φαραὼ βασιλέως Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῶν θεραπόντων αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατεδίωξεν ὀπίσω τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ· οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἐξεπορεύοντο ἐν χειρὶ ὑψηλῇ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Induravitque Dominus cor Pharaonis regis Ægypti, et persecutus est filios Israël: at illi egressi sunt in manu excelsa.
Yehová hizo que el faraón, rey de Egipto, se pusiera terco y persiguiera a los israelitas, a pesar de que ellos habían salido libres y con la frente en alto.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y endureció Jehová el corazón de Faraón rey de Egipto, y siguió á los hijos de Israel; pero los hijos de Israel habían salido con mano poderosa.
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse states that Yehovah made Pharaoh's heart strong/hard, causing him to pursue the Israelites after they had already left Egypt "with a raised hand" — an idiom for confidence or open defiance. The syntax pairs two clauses: Yehovah's action on Pharaoh, and the contrasting status of Israel already in departure.
Key words
- y.cha.Zek ("he made strong", H2388G) — piel stem, intensive verb form indicating a strengthening/hardening action, with Yehovah as subject.
- lev ("heart of", H3820A) — construct form linking directly to "Pharaoh," identifying the specific organ/seat affected.
- i.yir.Dof ("he pursued", H7291) — qal narrative form, simple past sequential action following the hardening.
- yo.tze.'Im ("going out", H3318G) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing Israel's ongoing action, not a completed one.
- ra.Mah ("raised", H7311A) — qal participle, feminine singular, modifying yad ("hand", H3027G) as an idiomatic descriptor.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built from two narrative chains marked by the vav-consecutive: va-y.cha.Zek ("and he made strong") and va-yir.Dof ("and he pursued"). This structure presents the hardening of Pharaoh's heart as the direct cause leading to the pursuit — one action following the other in sequence. The object marker 'et (H0853) before lev ("heart") signals that "heart of Pharaoh" is the direct object of the strengthening verb, with par.'Oh further specified by the construct chain "king of Egypt."
The second half of the verse shifts to a participial construction: u-ve.Nei Yis.ra.'El yo.tze.'Im ("and the sons of Israel [were] going out"). Unlike the finished, sequential verbs describing Pharaoh's action, the participle yo.tze.'Im presents Israel's departure as an ongoing or background state — they were already in the process of leaving when the pursuit began. The phrase be-yad ra.Mah ("with a hand raised") uses a construct noun-participle pair functioning idiomatically, describing the manner of their departure.
Differences between versions
The LXX adds "and his servants" (τῶν θεραπόντων αὐτοῦ) after "Pharaoh king of Egypt," an element not present in the Hebrew text, which only names Pharaoh in the construct chain par.'Oh Me.lekh mitz.Ra.yim. The Vulgate's in manu excelsa ("with an excelsa/lofty hand") and the LXX's ἐν χειρὶ ὑψηλῇ ("with a high hand") both render be-yad ra.Mah literally, while some modern renderings (e.g., BSB "marching out defiantly") interpret the idiom's meaning rather than translating the image of a "raised hand."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.