Exodus 15:6

Summary

Exodus 15:6 is a bicolon of poetic parallelism praising the right hand of Yehovah: the first line declares it glorious in power, the second describes its action of shattering the enemy. The repetition of the same phrase at the start of both lines is a structural feature of Hebrew poetic parallelism.

Key words

• yeminekha ("your right [hand]", H3225G) — feminine singular noun in construct form, repeated identically to open both cola of the verse.
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name, appearing as a vocative in both lines, addressed directly.
• ne'dari ("[was] glorious", H0142) — niphal participle, masculine singular construct form; the niphal stem often carries passive or reflexive nuance, here describing the right hand as being glorious/majestic.
• ba-koach ("in the power", H3581B) — masculine singular noun with preposition and article, specifying the domain in which the right hand is glorious.
• tir'atz ("it shattered", H7492) — qal imperfect, third feminine singular, agreeing with the feminine noun yeminekha ("your right hand") as its subject; the imperfect aspect can denote ongoing or completed narrative action in poetic context.
• 'oyev ("enemy", H0341) — qal participle, masculine singular, functioning here as a substantive noun ("the one who is hostile" = the enemy).

What the text says

The verse is built on a repeated opening formula: yeminekha YHWH ("your right hand, O Yehovah") appears identically at the start of both lines, a hallmark of Hebrew parallelism where the second line echoes and advances the first. In the first colon, the predicate is ne'dari ("[was] glorious", H0142), a niphal participle construct, followed by the prepositional phrase ba-koach ("in the power", H3581B) — literally "in the power" with the definite article — describing the sphere or manner of that glory.

The second colon shifts from a stative description to a dynamic action: tir'atz ("it shattered", H7492) is a qal imperfect verb, third person feminine singular, matching the grammatical gender of yeminekha ("your right hand", H3225G) as its grammatical subject — the hand itself is the one that shatters. The object is 'oyev ("enemy", H0341), grammatically a qal participle used as a noun, meaning "the one who is hostile" or simply "the enemy." The verbal aspect of the imperfect in Hebrew poetry describing past events can indicate a vivid, ongoing depiction of the action rather than strictly future time.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second occurrence of "right hand" with an added word, ἡ δεξιά σου χείρ ("your right hand," literally "the right, your hand"), inserting χείρ ("hand") explicitly, which is not a separate lexeme in the Hebrew (the Hebrew yeminekha already means "your right hand" without a separate word for "hand"). The Vulgate's percussit ("struck/smashed") and the LXX's ἔθραυσεν ("shattered/broke") both render tir'atz (H7492), converging with the Hebrew sense of forceful breaking, though English translations vary between "shattered" (BSB) and "quebrantado" ("broken/crushed," RV1909, SBLIBRE).