And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day;

DEUTERONOMY 11:4KJV
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Deuteronomy 11:4 (KJV)

What does Deuteronomy 11:4 mean?

Deuteronomy 11:4 recalls how the LORD stopped Egypt’s army when it pursued the Israelites after their departure from Egypt. Moses presents the army’s defeat as an event with lasting consequences: its power to threaten the Israelites on that journey had been broken.

The verse pictures the water sweeping over the pursuing force, including its horses and chariots. Moses is speaking to Israelites who had witnessed these events, setting their experience apart from that of their children (Deuteronomy 11:2, 7).

The Hebrew behind Deuteronomy 11:4

  • “Red” — סוּף (suf): This word refers to reeds. The Hebrew name translated “Red sea” is often understood as “Sea of Reeds.”
  • “overflow” — צוּף (tsuf): The word carries the sense of floating or flowing over. Here the water covers the Egyptian force as it follows the Israelites.

Why Deuteronomy 11:4 matters

  • The defeat reaches beyond the soldiers alone. By naming the “horses” and “chariots,” Moses draws attention to the equipment that made the Egyptian army a formidable pursuing force.
  • “Unto this day” points to a result that lasted up to the time Moses spoke. The verse looks back on the defeat from the Israelites’ position later in their journey.
  • Moses appeals to firsthand witnesses. In verse 7, he says that the listeners’ own eyes have seen the LORD’s great acts, including the event recalled in verse 4.

Where else these words appear

“overflow” Hebrew H6687 · used in 3 verses

  • 2 Kings 6:6 And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.
  • Lamentations 3:54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.

“Red” Hebrew H5488 · used in 28 verses

  • Exodus 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
  • Numbers 33:10 And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
  • Nehemiah 9:9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;

“chariots” Hebrew H7393 · used in 104 verses

  • Genesis 50:9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
  • 1 Kings 16:9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah.
  • 2 Chronicles 12:3 With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.

“horses” Hebrew H5483 · used in 131 verses

  • Genesis 47:17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
  • 2 Kings 18:23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
  • Jeremiah 12:5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?