Exodus 12:38
in Exodus 12And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
KJV
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
A mixed multitude - Probably remains of the old Semitic population, whether first brought into the district by the Hyksos or not is uncertain. As natural objects of suspicion and dislike to the Egyptians who had lately become masters of the country, they would be anxious to escape, the more especially after the calamities which preceded the Exodus. Very much cattle - This is an important fact, both as showing that the oppression of the Israelites had not extended to confiscation of their property, and as bearing upon the question of their maintenance in the Wilderness.
This site's exposition
from Rameses to Succoth
on Exodus 12:37-38
Six hundred thousand men on foot beside children is the figure the text gives, and the size of the total it implies has been argued over for centuries without agreement. A mixed multitude goes up with them, named here without comment, and Numbers 11:4 will say the trouble began among them. What leaves Egypt is larger and less uniform than the family that came down in Genesis 46.
This site's exposition
along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds
Albert Barnes takes the mixed multitude as remnants of an older Semitic people in the delta, with their own reasons to leave after the plagues. Matthew Henry says the herds are mentioned because Pharaoh had long refused to release them. Barnes adds that Israel kept its property through the bondage.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
But probably the greatest part was but a rude unthinking mob, that followed they knew not why: It is likely, when they understood that the children of Israel were to continue forty years in the wilderness, they quitted them, and returned to Egypt again.
And a mixed multitude went up also with them,....
They had with them flocks and herds, even very much cattle. This is taken notice of because it was long before Pharaoh would give them leave to remove their effects, which were chiefly cattle, Gen. xlvi. Of the provision made for the camp, which was very poor and slender.
How the passage was read
On Exodus 12:1-51On Exodus 12:1-51
The night Israel still keeps
This chapter founds Passover, in Hebrew Pesach, the spring feast that remembers the night God struck Egypt's firstborn and passed over the blood-marked houses. Jewish families keep it to this day with a ceremonial meal called the seder (Hebrew for “order”): unleavened flatbread (matzah), bitter herbs, cups of wine, and the retelling of this chapter's story, with the children asking the questions.
Honesty about the timeline helps the reader: in the Bible's own period the center of the feast was the lamb, slain and eaten as this chapter commands. The seder as now practiced took its shape after the Temple fell in AD 70 and the lamb could no longer be offered; its oldest written outline is in the Mishnah, the first code of Jewish oral law (about AD 200), which already includes the four cups and the rule that “in every generation a person must see himself as if he personally came out of Egypt.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Pesachim 10 (the seder's oldest outline) · Mishnah Pesachim 10:5 (“in every generation”) · The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study)
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְגַם־ | vegam- | and also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| עֵ֥רֶב | ʾerev | a mixed company | H6154 → | |
| רַ֖ב | rav | numerous | H7227 → | 454 times |
| עָלָ֣ה | ʾalah | it went up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| אִתָּ֑ם | ʾitam | with them | H854 → | 929 times |
| וְצֹ֣אן | vetzon | and flock[s] | H6629 → | 274 times |
| וּבָקָ֔ר | uvakar | and herd[s] | H1241 → | 183 times |
| מִקְנֶ֖ה | mikneh | livestock | H4735 → | 76 times |
| כָּבֵ֥ד | kaved | numerous | H3515 → | 41 times |
| מְאֹֽד׃ | meod | very | H3966 → | 300 times |
וְגַם־and also
vegam-H1571 →769 times
עֵ֥רֶבa mixed company
ʾerevH6154 →
רַ֖בnumerous
ravH7227 →454 times
עָלָ֣הit went up
ʾalahH5927 →890 times
אִתָּ֑םwith them
ʾitamH854 →929 times
וְצֹ֣אןand flock[s]
vetzonH6629 →274 times
וּבָקָ֔רand herd[s]
uvakarH1241 →183 times
מִקְנֶ֖הlivestock
miknehH4735 →76 times
כָּבֵ֥דnumerous
kavedH3515 →41 times
מְאֹֽד׃very
meodH3966 →300 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
Zechariah 8:23This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for…
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:5
Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory…
- 1 Corinthians 14:25
and the secrets of his heart will be made known. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”
- Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge…
- Isaiah 60:3
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
- Acts 13:47–48
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
- Isaiah 55:5
Through
Numbers 11:4Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:6
These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.
- Psalms 106:14
They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.
- Psalms 78:18–20
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
- 1 Corinthians 10:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Exodus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.