Kommentar zu Schemot 15:18

לעלם ועד The word ועד is an expression denoting ETERNITY — The ו in it is a root-letter, and consequently it is vowelled with a Patach; but in the similar word in (Jeremiah 29:23) “I am He that knoweth and am witness (ועד)”, where the ו is a servile letter (a prefix) it is vowelled with a Kametz.

THE ETERNAL SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER. Moses is saying that just as He has now shown that He is King and Ruler by having brought deliverance to His servants and destruction upon those that rebel against Him, so may it be His will to do so in all generations forever, that He withdraw not His eyes from the righteous,²²²Job 36:7. nor hide them [His eyes] from the wicked ones who inflict evil upon others. There are many verses that are to be interpreted in this way, such as: The Eternal will reign for ever, thy G-d, O Zion, unto all generations. Hallelujah;²²³Psalms 146:10. Blessed be the Name of the Eternal from this time forth and for ever;²²⁴Ibid., 113:2. And the Eternal shall be King over all the earth.²²⁵Zechariah 14:9.
Now Onkelos was apprehensive [of translating this verse literally, which is stated in a future tense], since G-d’s sovereignty is [indeed] to all eternity [and no prayer for its continuance is possible]. Therefore he rendered it in the present tense: “The Kingdom of the Eternal endureth for ever and to all eternity,” just as is expressed in the verse, Thy Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages.²²⁶Psalms 145:13. But I have not understood Onkelos’ opinion in this matter, for it is written: May the Glory of the Eternal endure for ever;²²⁷Ibid., 104:31. And let the whole earth be filled with His Glory;²²⁸Ibid., 72:19. “Magnified and sanctified shall be [His great Name]”;²²⁹From the beginning of the Kaddish prayer. In Ricanti’s work on the Torah in quoting this text from Ramban, he writes clearly: “and in the Kaddish [we say], ‘Magnified, etc.’” It is thus to be noted that the Kaddish-text is quoted by Ramban amidst Scriptural verses as authority for his thesis! The great sanctity of the Kaddish prayer is thus clearly indicated. Yea, let it be established, and let Thy Name be magnified for ever.²³⁰I Chronicles 17:24. It is possible that the meaning of these [future tenses] is similar to the secret of the benedictions.²³¹“Magnifying G-d’s Name brings life and blessing to the world, thus assuring that His kingdom will be acknowledged in the world in the future. And so is the purport of the benedictions we make, which begin by referring to ‘the Eternal, our G-d’ and continue to mention ‘King of the universe’” (Ma’or V’shamesh).

ה' ימלוך לעולם ועד, this too is a prayer by Moses who expresses the hope that G’d, exclusively, will reign forever, and that He will not have to share power with anyone else claiming divine authority on earth.

ה׳ ימלך לעולם ועד, "The Lord will rule for ever and ever." The author implies that the reason he did not speak about the Lord having reigned in the past is because of the challenge to G'd's rule described in verse 19. Inasmuch as G'd has exacted retribution from only one nation which has not recognised His sovereignty in the world it would be inappropriate to extol G'd as having ruled in the past. כי בא סוס פרעה, "For the horses of Pharaoh came, etc." The fact that G'd disposed of the challenge represented by Pharaoh was not yet proof of the impotence of all the powers which compete with G'd on earth and which different nations worship. G'd's true sovereignty will be established only when He deals with all competing deities.

ימלוך לעולם ועד. will be king forever.

ה' ימלוך לעולם ועד, “The Lord will rule forever more.” The meaning is that at this time Hashem had demonstrated that He is the true ruler in this universe. He can take care of all those that serve Him, and He can dispose of all those that oppose Him.

ה' ימלך לעולם ועד, “the Lord will rule forever.” The plain meaning of the text is that just as G’d had demonstrated His supremacy over all of mankind and the forces of nature at this time by saving the deserving and punishing the guilty, may He continue to do so in each and every generation. The same idea has been expressed by David in Psalms 146,10: “The Lord will reign forever, your G’d, O Zion, for all generations, Hallelujah.” The word ימלך is written defective, without the letter ו to teach us that G’d does not approach His subjects with great demands by demanding an exhausting sort of service from them. (Avodah Zarah 3). The prophet Micha 6,3 has already publicly remonstrated with his people showing that G’d’s demands of His people (and on mankind) are quite minimal. He asked: “My people! What wrong have I done you? What hardship have I caused you?”

Therefore it is vocalized with a patach. The “patach” means the segol (called “patach koton”) which is under the ע of ועד .

ה׳ ימלוך לעולם ועדת, ‘the Lord will rule forever;” a prayer, meaning: “may it be Your will that the Lord Who rules over us now will continue to do so forever, and may He continue to do favours for us similar to the ones He just did.” Although at first glance the word: ימלוך may be misunderstood a it is in the future tense, it is used as a present tense. One of many such examples is found in Deuteronomy 32,11: כנשר יעיר קנו ירחף, “as an eagle that stirs up its nest hovering over its young.” The verse continues in the future tense but describes matters that occur all the time.

Where the letter ו in it is a prefix, it bears the kametz vowel. The “kametz” means the tzeirei, which is called “kametz koton.” “It bears” refers to the word ועד [not to the letter vav].

Another way of understanding the sequence of the words in these two verses plus the fact that G'd is described as sovereign only in the future is this: "The Lord will rule only in the future because all of Pharaoh's horses and their riders perished as one man. As a result the only ones left to tell about G'd's mighty deeds were the Israelites who were saved in the midst of the sea." Had there been a few Egyptians who had saved themselves and those Egyptians had told the rest of the world of their experiences this would have suitably impressed the world. As it was, only the Israelites who had already recognised G'd's sovereignty were around to tell the tale. This was not enough to convince the pagans.

לעולם ועד; this is an abbreviated version of the expression: לעולם ועד עולם, “from one world until the next world.” There is no reason to wonder that the word ועד does not appear in the construct mode, as we find more such examples, such as in Isaiah 57,15: שוכן עד מרום וקדוש שמו, “forever dwells the One Whose name is high and holy;” the meaning of the line is: His name will remain forever exalted and holy.”The author explains that it is a peculiarity of classical Hebrew that the emphasis is placed on the letter following the prefix ו, in other words, on the letter ע in the word ועד. He cites Leviticus 7,23 שור וכשב ועז as an example, as well as Genesis 3,13: הנחש השיאני ואכל, “the serpent seduced me and I ate,” as another example.