כְּבֵדֻת (ke.ve.dut)
ke.ve.dut
heaviness
H:N-FQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-F
Word Overview
The noun khevdot means heaviness or difficulty. It appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, in Exodus 14:25. The verse describes the state of the Egyptian chariots during the pursuit of Israel at the Red Sea. Their movement became heavy and sluggish, hindering their ability to keep up.
This word derives from the root k-b-d, which carries the sense of weight or importance. Here, the "heaviness" is literal physical burden rather than metaphorical honor. The sources note that this difficulty made the Egyptians drive with difficulty, effectively slowing their army down.
Translators often render it as heaviness or difficulty to capture both the physical load and the resulting struggle. It highlights a moment where divine intervention manifests through tangible obstacles, turning a military advantage into a hindrance for the pursuers.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
When life feels like a heavy burden, it can be easy to interpret that weight as a sign of abandonment or failure. The Hebrew word khevdotot describes a literal heaviness, specifically the sluggish difficulty experienced by the Egyptian chariots in Exodus 14:25. In that moment, their military advantage was turned into a hindrance not by a lack of power, but by divine intervention that slowed them down.
This reminds us that obstacles are not always punishments. Sometimes, what feels like a heavy drag on your progress is actually God removing the wheels from your pursuers. The heaviness here stopped an enemy threat, creating space for safety and deliverance. Your current struggles may be serving a protective purpose, clearing the path forward.
Instead of viewing every difficulty as a personal shortcoming, consider that some burdens are placed there to halt forces that would otherwise overwhelm you. Trust that God can use these moments of slowness or resistance to fight on your behalf. Peace comes from knowing that even when movement is hard, you are not alone in the struggle.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- with/ difficulty1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- בִּ/כְבֵדֻ֑ת1×
Key Verses
-
Exodus 14:25
He took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from the face of Israel, for Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians!”
This occurrence shows the word describing the physical difficulty of driving chariots after their wheels were removed, turning military strength into a hindrance.