Hebrew word · H3517

כְּבֵדֻת

bikhvedut

heaviness

An abstract noun meaning 'heaviness', used here for sluggish, laboured movement. It comes from the root k-b-d, which covers being heavy, weighty, burdensome or hard to move. Positively the root means weight and importance: kābôd, 'glory'.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

heaviness, difficulty

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Exodus 14:25

Range of meaning

An abstract noun meaning 'heaviness', used here for sluggish, laboured movement. It comes from the root k-b-d, which covers being heavy, weighty, burdensome or hard to move. Positively the root means weight and importance: kābôd, 'glory'. Negatively it means dullness or stubbornness ('a heavy heart', 'heavy ears').

Against the English

'Heavily' (KJV, WEB), 'with difficulty' (BSB, NASB, YLT), 'difficult to drive' (NLT). All give the practical sense correctly. None can carry the wordplay, so English readers miss that this is the same root as Pharaoh's 'hardened' heart and God's 'glory'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The root runs all through the plague and sea story. Pharaoh's heart is 'heavy' (kābēd, 7:14; 9:7). Pharaoh 'made his heart heavy' (hikbîd, 8:15, 32; 9:34). In this chapter God says, 'I will get glory (ʾikkābədâ) over Pharaoh and all his army, over his chariots and his horsemen' (14:4, 17, 18). Commentators such as Sarna (JPS Torah Commentary) and Propp (Anchor Bible) note the pun.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 14:25 בִּכְבֵדֻ֑ת with difficulty

    He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

    Here: 'With heaviness'. This noun appears only here in the Bible. It comes from the root k-b-d ('heavy'), the same root used all through Exodus for Pharaoh's 'heavy' (stubborn) heart and for God 'getting glory' over Pharaoh in this chapter. The heaviness of Pharaoh's heart has now got into his wheels.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.