Exodus 17:16
in Exodus 17“Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and he said, Jehovah hath sworn: Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
KJV
For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
⋯
This verse in Exodus 17
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek, etc. - This is no translation of the words כי יד על כס יה מלחמה ki yad al kes yah milckamah, which have been variously rendered by different translators and critics; the most rational version of which is the following: Because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of God, therefore will I have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This gives a tolerably consistent sense, yet still there is considerable obscurity in the passage.
This site's exposition
And Moses built an altar
on Exodus 17:15-16
The name is given to the altar rather than to the place, and the name is Jehovah-nissi, the LORD my banner. Verse 16 is one of the hardest lines in the book to render, since the Hebrew reads a hand upon the throne of the LORD, and translators differ over whose hand it is. The King James takes it as an oath sworn by God, while Adam Clarke reads it as the hand of Amalek set against the throne of God. Both readings leave the same result standing, that the war runs from generation to generation, and the rest of the Old Testament treats it as still open.
This site's exposition
a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD
In the throne of the LORD the name is Yah, the short form used before this only in the song at 15:2. The word for throne is a shortened form, kes. The LORD's war against Amalek reaches David at 1 Samuel 30 and ends at 1 Chronicles 4:43, where men of Simeon strike the last of Amalek in Hezekiah's day.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
12 ); therefore the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This was written for direction to Israel never to make any league with the Amalekites, but to look upon them as irreconcilable enemies, doomed to ruin. Amalek's destruction was typical of the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his kingdom.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
For he said, because the Lord hath sworn,....
And these things which happened to them are written for our instruction in our spiritual journey and warfare. The Israelites Murmur for Water. 1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the L ORD , and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Write this for a memorial--If the bloody character of this statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance they meditated against Israel (Ps 83:4).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Because the Lord hath sworn - This rendering is incorrect. Our translators regard the expression as a solemn asseveration by the throne of God. However, to this the objections are insuperable; it has no parallel in Scriptural usage: God swears by Himself, not by His Throne. As the Hebrew text now stands the meaning is more satisfactorily given in the margin. An alteration, slight in form, but considerable in meaning, has been proposed with much confidence, namely, נס nês, “standard” for כסא kı̂ssê', “throne”; thus connecting the name of the altar with the sentence. Conjectural emendations are not to be adopted without necessity, and the obvious a priori probability of such a reading makes it improbable that one so far more difficult should have been substituted for it. One of the surest canons of criticism militates against its reception. As it stands, the text was undoubtedly that which was alone known to the Targumists, the Samaritan, the Syriac, the Latin and the Arabic translators. The Septuagint appears to have had a different reading: ἐν χειρὶ κρυφαίᾳ πολεμεῖ en cheiri kruphē polemeō.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֗אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָד֙ | yad | a hand | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֣ס | kes | [the] throne of | H3676 → | |
| יָ֔הּ | yah | Yahweh | H3050 → | |
| מִלְחָמָ֥ה | milchamah | war | H4421 → | 320 times |
| לַיהוָ֖ה | layahweh | [will belong] to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑ק | baamalek | with Amalek | H6002 → | 39 times |
| מִדֹּ֖ר | midor | from generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
| דֹּֽר׃ פ | dor | generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יָד֙a hand
yadH3027 →1618 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֣ס[the] throne of
kesH3676 →
יָ֔הּYahweh
yahH3050 →
מִלְחָמָ֥הwar
milchamahH4421 →320 times
לַיהוָ֖ה[will belong] to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑קwith Amalek
baamalekH6002 →39 times
מִדֹּ֖רfrom generation
midorH1755 →167 times
דֹּֽר׃ פgeneration
dorH1755 →167 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
Isaiah 66:1This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
it leads to
- Acts 7:48–50
However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
- Acts 17:24
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.
- Matthew 5:34–35
But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
- 1 Kings 8:27
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- Psalms 132:7
Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.
- Acts 7:48–50
Through
Acts 7:49‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or where will My place of repose be?
it leads to
- Isaiah 66:1
This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
- Psalms 11:4
The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
- John 4:21
“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 66:1
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.