Exodus 15:10

Summary

Exodus 15:10 describes the sea covering the Egyptians after a blast from the divine ruach ("breath/wind"). The verse states that they sank like lead in mighty waters, using three consecutive perfect verbs to narrate a completed sequence of events.

Key words

• na.Shaf.ta ("you blew", H5398) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; a completed action attributed directly to "you" (the subject addressed throughout this song).
• ru.cha.Kha ("your breath/wind", H7307H + H9021) — feminine singular noun in construct with the 2nd person masculine suffix "your," identifying the agent's breath as the instrument of the blowing.
• ki.Sa.mo ("it covered them", H3680 + H9038) — piel (intensive) perfect, 3rd person masculine singular, with a 3rd person masculine plural suffix "them"; the piel stem intensifies the covering action, and the suffix marks the direct object without a separate pronoun.
• tza.la.Lu ("they sank", H6749) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural; a completed action performed by the same group referenced by "them" in the previous clause.
• 'a.di.Rim ("mighty", H0117) — masculine plural adjective modifying Ma.yim ("waters", H4325G), agreeing in number and gender with the noun it describes.

What the text says

The verse is built on three short clauses, each anchored by a qal or piel perfect verb, producing a rapid narrative sequence: blowing, covering, sinking. The first clause, na.Shaf.ta be.ru.cha.Kha ("you blew with your breath"), uses the preposition ve ("with", H9003) attached to ru.cha.Kha to mark the instrument of the action — the breath is the means by which the blowing occurs. The subject "you" is embedded in the verb form itself (2nd masculine singular perfect), so no separate pronoun is needed.

The second clause, ki.Sa.mo Yam ("it covered them, [the] sea"), places the verb before its subject Yam ("sea", H3220G), a common feature of Biblical Hebrew clause order. The pronominal suffix mo ("them", H9038) attached directly to the verb ki.Sa functions as the object, meaning "the sea covered them" — the syntax compresses subject, verb, and object into a tight construction where the grammatical subject Yam follows the verb+object unit.

The third clause, tza.la.Lu ka.'o.Fe.ret be.Ma.yim 'a.di.Rim ("they sank like lead in mighty waters"), uses ka ("like", H9004) with the article to form a simile with 'o.Fe.ret ("lead", H5777), followed by be ("in", H9003) marking the locative "in the waters." The adjective 'a.di.Rim ("mighty") agrees in gender and number with Ma.yim ("waters"), which is grammatically masculine plural in this form.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders na.Shaf.ta ("you blew") as apesteilas ("you sent"), a different verb than the Hebrew's "blowing" image, though both versions attribute the action to "your spirit/breath" (πνεῦμα, corresponding to ru.ach). The Vulgate's flavit ("blew") aligns more closely with the Hebrew verb's sense of blowing than the LXX's "sent."