Exodus 14:12
in Exodus 14Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is not this the word that we spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
KJV
Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
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This verse in Exodus 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Let us alone - This is a gross exaggeration, yet not without a semblance of truth: for although the Israelites welcomed the message of Moses at first, they gave way completely at the first serious trial. See the reference in the margin. The whole passage foreshadows the conduct of the people in the wilderness.
This site's exposition
Because there were no graves in Egypt
on Exodus 14:11-12
This is the first murmuring of the wilderness and it comes before the sea opens, with nothing yet suffered in the desert. Three more follow within four chapters, at Marah in 15:24, in the wilderness of Sin at 16:2, and at Rephidim in 17:2, and Exodus answers every one of them with water, bread, meat or a dry road. Their appeal to what they had said in Egypt has one recorded parallel, the officers of Israel to Moses at 5:21, and the request to be left alone to serve the Egyptians reverses the demand the whole book has been making.
This site's exposition
Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians
Albert Barnes calls the claim a gross exaggeration that still holds some truth. Israel welcomed Moses at first and lost heart at the first hard trial, when Pharaoh withdrew the straw for the bricks in chapter 5. Barnes reads the complaint as a forecast of the wilderness years.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt,....
(2.) Base ingratitude to Moses, who had been the faithful instrument of their deliverance. They condemn him, as if he had dealt hardly and unkindly with them, whereas it was evident, beyond dispute, that whatever he did, and however it issued, it was by direction from their God, and with design for their good.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
In the opinion of our Rabbis, 47 Yerushalmi Succah V,. See Maimonides’ “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 44-46, in my translation. this is a negative commandment for all times.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
We find that the holy tongue employs two words with one meaning back to back when one would suffice.
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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| זֶ֣ה | zeh | [is] this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| הַדָּבָ֗ר | hadavar | the word | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אֲשֶׁר֩ | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| דִּבַּ֨רְנוּ | dibarnu | we spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אֵלֶ֤יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| בְמִצְרַ֙יִם֙ | vemitzrayim | in Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| לֵאמֹ֔ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| חֲדַ֥ל | chadal | cease | H2308 → | 58 times |
| מִמֶּ֖נּוּ | mimenu | from us | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| וְנַֽעַבְדָ֣ה | venaavdah | so let us serve | H5647 → | 288 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִצְרָ֑יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4713 → | 70 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ט֥וֹב | tov | [is] better | H2896 → | 538 times |
| לָ֙נוּ֙ | lanu | for us | ||
| עֲבֹ֣ד | ʾavod | serving | H5647 → | 288 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִצְרַ֔יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4713 → | 70 times |
| מִמֻּתֵ֖נוּ | mimutenu | than to die us | H4191 → | 839 times |
| בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
הֲלֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
זֶ֣ה[is] this
zehH2088 →1180 times
הַדָּבָ֗רthe word
hadavarH1697 →1440 times
אֲשֶׁר֩which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
דִּבַּ֨רְנוּwe spoke
dibarnuH1696 →1141 times
אֵלֶ֤יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
בְמִצְרַ֙יִם֙in Egypt
vemitzrayimH4714 →641 times
לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
חֲדַ֥לcease
chadalH2308 →58 times
מִמֶּ֖נּוּfrom us
mimenuH4480 →1188 times
וְנַֽעַבְדָ֣הso let us serve
venaavdahH5647 →288 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִצְרָ֑יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4713 →70 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
ט֥וֹב[is] better
tovH2896 →538 times
לָ֙נוּ֙for us
lanu
עֲבֹ֣דserving
ʾavodH5647 →288 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִצְרַ֔יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4713 →70 times
מִמֻּתֵ֖נוּthan to die us
mimutenuH4191 →839 times
בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃in the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 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
Jonah 4:3And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
it leads to
- 1 Kings 19:4
while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life,…
- Ecclesiastes 7:1
A good name is better than fine perfume, and one’s day of death is better than his day of birth.
- Numbers 11:15
If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”
- 1 Kings 19:4
Through
Exodus 3:9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
it leads to
- Proverbs 22:22–23
Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,
- Exodus 2:23
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Exodus 1:11
So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
- Exodus 1:13–14
They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
- Exodus 3:7
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Proverbs 22:22–23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Exodus
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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 (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.