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Exodus 14:1

in Exodus 14

Then the LORD said to Moses,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

KJV

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

This verse in Exodus 14

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

spake unto Moses, saying

on Exodus 14:1-3

The route is dictated rather than chosen, and it puts the sea in front of the camp with Migdol behind it. God says in advance what Pharaoh will conclude from the map, that they are entangled in the land and the wilderness hath shut them in. Israel is placed in a trap on purpose, and the trap is set for Egypt.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of the pillar of the cloud in which he went before them; either while they were at Etham, or when journeying from thence, and a little before they turned off to the right, as they were now directed: saying; as follows:

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, God sometimes raises difficulties in the way of the salvation of his people, that he may have the glory of subduing them, and helping his people over them.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

It is truly not proper for an intelligent person to scrutinize God’s actions and ask, why did the Lord act thus?
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 14:1:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

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.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

5 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיְדַבֵּ֥רand he spoke

    vaydaberH16961141 times

  • יְהֹוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֥הMoses

    moshehH4872765 times

  • לֵּאמֹֽר׃<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Egyptians Drown in the Sea — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Egyptians Drown in the Sea — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.