Exodus 15:11

Summary

The verse is a rhetorical双 question praising Yehovah's incomparability among the "gods" ('elim, H0410K), followed by a description of him as ne'dar ("glorious/majestic", H0142) in holiness, nora' ("awesome", H3372H) in praises, and 'oseh ("doer", H6213A) of wonder.

Key words

• mi ("who?", H4310) — interrogative pronoun, repeated twice to open two parallel rhetorical questions with no expected answer.
• 'elim ("gods", H0410K) — masculine plural noun, preceded by the preposition-article ba- ("in/among the"), placing Yehovah in comparison with a class of divine beings.
• ne'dar ("glorious", H0142) — Niphal participle, masculine singular; the Niphal stem often carries passive or reflexive nuance, here functioning adjectivally to describe Yehovah as "the one made glorious" or "showing himself glorious."
• nora' ("awesome", H3372H) — Niphal participle paralleling ne'dar, describing Yehovah in relation to tehillot ("praises", H8416), a feminine plural noun.
• 'oseh ("doing", H6213A) — Qal participle in construct state, meaning "doer of," linking directly to pele' ("wonder", H6382) to form the phrase "doer of wonder."

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel rhetorical questions, both opened with mi ("who?", H4310) followed by kamokha ("like you", combining H3644G "like" with the second-person suffix H9031 "you"). This repetition creates a poetic structure comparing Yehovah to 'elim ("gods", H0410K) — a plural noun that situates the comparison within a category of divine beings, without the text specifying their nature further.

The second half of the verse shifts from question to description, using three participial forms: ne'dar ("glorious", H0142) and nora' ("awesome", H3372H), both Niphal participles, and 'oseh ("doing", H6213A), a Qal participle in construct. The Niphal stem for the first two participles gives them a passive or reflexive coloring — literally "the one being made glorious" or "showing himself awesome" — rather than a simple active adjective. The prepositional phrases ba-qodesh ("in holiness", H6944G) and tehillot ("of praises", H8416, in construct-like apposition) specify the domains in which this glory and awe are manifested. The final phrase, 'oseh pele' ("doer of wonder", H6213A + H6382), uses the construct chain to tie the participle directly to its object, presenting Yehovah's action as an ongoing, characteristic activity rather than a single past event.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'elim ("gods", H0410K) as theois ("gods"), matching the Hebrew plural sense, while the Vulgate uses fortibus ("strong ones/mighty ones") instead of a term meaning "gods." The Hebrew ne'dar... nora' (two Niphal participles) becomes in the LXX dedoxasmenos... thaumastos (perfect passive participle + adjective) and in the Vulgate magnificus... terribilis (adjectives), shifting the Hebrew's participial, ongoing-action nuance into more static descriptive terms.