Bible Strands

Exodus 14:29

But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator addresses the reader at the edge of the sea, noting that the Israelites had already completed their crossing before Pharaoh’s army perished.

The words — The verb הָלְכ֥וּ (ha.le.Khu) means “they walked” and carries a perfect tense, marking the action as finished. The noun חֹמָ֔ה (cho.Mah) translates literally as “wall,” denoting the standing waters that bordered the path.

The thread — The pattern of waters held back for passage recurs in Exodus 14:22, the Jordan crossing in Joshua 3:16, and God’s rhetorical question in Job 38:8.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that deliverance is presented as a completed reality, framing salvation as an accomplished fact rather than an ongoing event.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

Cross-references