Exodus 15:11
in Exodus 15Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
KJV
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
⋯
This verse in Exodus 15
Commentary
5 notes on this verseWho is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? - We have already seen that all the Egyptian gods, or the objects of the Egyptians’ idolatry, were confounded, and rendered completely despicable, by the ten plagues, which appear to have been directed principally against them. Here the people of God exult over them afresh: Who among these gods is like unto Thee? They can neither save nor destroy; Thou dost both in the most signal manner.
This site's exposition
Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods
The word holiness occurs here for the first time in Scripture, inside a line about what God is like, and the next place it stands is on the gold plate of the high priest at 28:36. The question about the gods rests on something the book has already claimed, since 12:12 said God would execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt and Numbers 33:4 reports that he did. Glorious in holiness is a phrase found in this verse and nowhere else in the Bible.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
John ChrysostomDISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 5.3.3 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
The Old Testament … says, "Who is like to you among the gods, O Lord?" What do you mean, Moses? Is there any comparison at all between the true God and false gods? Moses would reply, "I did not say this to make a comparison; but since I was talking to the Jews, who had a lofty opinion of demons, I condescended to their weakness and brought in the lesson I was teaching in this way." Let me also say that since my discussion is with the Jews, who consider that Christ is mere man and one who violated their law, I compared him with those whom the pagan Greeks admire.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?....
Note, God is to be worshipped and adored as a being of such infinite perfection that there is none like him, nor any to be compared with him, as one that in all things has and must have the pre-eminence, Ps. lxxxix. Secondly, More particularly, 1. He is glorious in holiness; his holiness is his glory.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that nashaphta is derived from the root nesheph (twilight), 153 “For there are two kinds of nesheph (twilight): the nesheph after sundown, and the nesheph before sunrise” (Ibn Ezra)! Here the nesheph before sunrise is referred to.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
THOU STRETCHEDST OUT THY RIGHT HAND — THE EARTH ‘TIVLA’EIMO’ (SWALLOWED THEM). The meaning is that “after you blew with Your wind and the sea covered them, You stretched out Your right hand and Your arm, 203 Verse: By the greatness of Thine arm… and the earth swallowed them.
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
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| כָמֹ֤כָה | khamokhah | [is] like you | H3644 → | 143 times |
| בָּֽאֵלִם֙ | baelim | among the gods | H410 → | 241 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מִ֥י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| כָּמֹ֖כָה | kamokhah | [is] like you | H3644 → | 143 times |
| נֶאְדָּ֣ר | ne'dar | glorious | H142 → | |
| בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁ | bakodesh | in <the> holiness | H6944 → | 469 times |
| נוֹרָ֥א | nora' | awesome | H3372 → | 315 times |
| תְהִלֹּ֖ת | tehilot | of praises | H8416 → | |
| עֹ֥שֵׂה | ʾoseh | doing | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| פֶֽלֶא׃ | fele' | <of> wonder[s] | H6382 → |
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
כָמֹ֤כָה[is] like you
khamokhahH3644 →143 times
בָּֽאֵלִם֙among the gods
baelimH410 →241 times
יְהוָ֔הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מִ֥יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
כָּמֹ֖כָה[is] like you
kamokhahH3644 →143 times
נֶאְדָּ֣רglorious
ne'darH142 →
בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁin <the> holiness
bakodeshH6944 →469 times
נוֹרָ֥אawesome
nora'H3372 →315 times
תְהִלֹּ֖תof praises
tehilotH8416 →
עֹ֥שֵׂהdoing
ʾosehH6213 →2628 times
פֶֽלֶא׃<of> wonder[s]
fele'H6382 →
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
1 Samuel 2:2There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
it leads to
- Psalms 86:8
O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Samuel 22:32
For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
- Isaiah 44:6
Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.
- Psalms 89:8
O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You? O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You.
- 1 Peter 1:16
for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
- Psalms 86:8
Through
Revelation 4:8And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:2–13
Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
- Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.
- Isaiah 6:2–13
Through
2 Samuel 7:22How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.
it leads to
- Psalms 86:10
For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.
- Psalms 86:10
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Holiness35 verses
On this page
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Chrysostom, DISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 5.3.3; 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.