Exodus 15:5
in Exodus 15The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The deeps cover them: They went down into the depths like a stone.
KJV
The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
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This verse in Exodus 15
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea
on Exodus 15:4-5
The chariots were Egypt's best arm, counted at six hundred chosen at 14:7, and the song reports them on the sea floor. They sank into the bottom as a stone here and as lead at verse 10, two weights given to the same fact. Egypt drowned Hebrew boys in a river at 1:22, and water is what closes over Egypt's own army.
This site's exposition
The depths have covered them
Adam Clarke supposes the chief nobles of Egypt rode out with their king, so the depths closed over the ruling class of the country. Nehemiah 9:11 keeps the stone of this verse, saying God hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging waters. The simile returns at verse 16.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
But if our enemies "went down into the depths like a stone," the only ones the devil remains in possession of and the only ones who have the hardness of the devil are those about whom it is written, "When the sinner has come into the depths of evil, he behaves disdainfully." They don't believe, you see, that they can be forgiven for what they have done; and in that mood of despair they plummet to greater depths than ever.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), under the weight of their own guilt and God's wrath. Their sin had made them hard like a stone, and now they justly sink like a stone. Nay, the earth itself swallowed them (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
The depths have covered them,....
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּהֹמֹ֖ת | tehomot | [the] deeps | H8415 → | |
| יְכַסְיֻ֑מוּ | yekhasyumu | they have covered them | H3680 → | 152 times |
| יָרְד֥וּ | yaredu | they went down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| בִמְצוֹלֹ֖ת | vimtzolot | in [the] depths | H4688 → | |
| כְּמוֹ־ | kemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| אָֽבֶן׃ | ʾaven | a stone | H68 → | 273 times |
תְּהֹמֹ֖ת[the] deeps
tehomotH8415 →
יְכַסְיֻ֑מוּthey have covered them
yekhasyumuH3680 →152 times
יָרְד֥וּthey went down
yareduH3381 →381 times
בִמְצוֹלֹ֖תin [the] depths
vimtzolotH4688 →
כְּמוֹ־like
kemov-H3644 →143 times
אָֽבֶן׃a stone
ʾavenH68 →273 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 14:28The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
it leads to
- Psalms 106:9–11
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 78:53
He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.
- Habakkuk 3:8–10
Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?
- Psalms 136:15
but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Habakkuk 3:13
You went forth for the salvation of Your people, to save Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked and stripped him from head to toe. Selah
- Psalms 106:9–11
Through
Nehemiah 9:11You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through it on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging waters.
it leads to
- Exodus 14:27–28
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 78:13
He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
- Exodus 14:21–22
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were…
- Exodus 14:27–28
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 363.2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.