Exodus 2:13
in Exodus 2The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
KJV
And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
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This verse in Exodus 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thy fellow - “Thy neighbor.” the reproof was that of a legislator who established moral obligations on a recognized principle. Hence, in the following verse, the offender is represented as feeling that the position claimed by Moses was that of a Judge. The act could only have been made known by the Hebrew on whose behalf Moses had committed it.
This site's exposition
when he went out the second day
on Exodus 2:13-14
On the second day the man Moses corrects is a Hebrew, and the answer he gets is a refusal of his standing. Who made thee a prince and a judge over us is the sentence Stephen quotes at Acts 7:27, and at Acts 7:35 he answers it, saying that this Moses whom they refused was the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer. The rejection by his own people comes forty years before the deliverance rather than after it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And when he went out the second day,....
(2.) The way he took of dealing with them; he marked him that caused the division, that did the wrong, and mildly reasoned with him: Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? The injurious Egyptian was killed, the injurious Hebrew was only reprimanded; for what the former did was from a rooted malice, what the latter did we may suppose was only upon a sudden provocation.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Two men of the Hebrews strove together - How strange that in the very place where they were suffering a heavy persecution because they were Hebrews, the very persons themselves who suffered it should be found persecuting each other! It has been often seen that in those times in which the ungodly oppressed the Church of Christ, its own members have been separated from each other by disputes concerning comparatively unessential points of doctrine and discipline, in consequence of which both they and the truth have become an easy prey to those whose desire was to waste the heritage of the Lord. The Targum of Jonathan says that the two persons who strove were Dathan and Abiram.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Nitzim (striving) is a nifal adjective. 135 That is, a nifal participle. I.E. refers to nifal participles as adjectives.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
WILT THOU SPEAK TO KILL ME? “From here we learn that Moses had killed the Egyptian by merely pronouncing the Tetragrammaton.” 84 The Tetragrammaton ( Shem Hamphorash or Shem Hamyuchad ) is the Proper Name of G-d.
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. 4 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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּצֵא֙ | vaiyetze' | and he went out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| בַּיּ֣וֹם | baiyom | on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשֵּׁנִ֔י | hasheni | <the> second | H8145 → | 156 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֛ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| שְׁנֵֽי־ | shenei- | two | H8147 → | 768 times |
| אֲנָשִׁ֥ים | ʾanashim | men | H582 → | 566 times |
| עִבְרִ֖ים | ʾivrim | Hebrew | H5680 → | 34 times |
| נִצִּ֑ים | nitzim | [were] struggling together | H5327 → | |
| וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לָֽרָשָׁ֔ע | larasha' | to the guilty [one] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| לָ֥מָּה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תַכֶּ֖ה | takeh | are you striking | H5221 → | 499 times |
| רֵעֶֽךָ׃ | reekha | companion your | H7453 → | 188 times |
וַיֵּצֵא֙and he went out
vaiyetze'H3318 →1067 times
בַּיּ֣וֹםon the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַשֵּׁנִ֔י<the> second
hasheniH8145 →156 times
וְהִנֵּ֛הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
שְׁנֵֽי־two
shenei-H8147 →768 times
אֲנָשִׁ֥יםmen
ʾanashimH582 →566 times
עִבְרִ֖יםHebrew
ʾivrimH5680 →34 times
נִצִּ֑ים[were] struggling together
nitzimH5327 →
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
לָֽרָשָׁ֔עto the guilty [one]
larasha'H7563 →263 times
לָ֥מָּה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
תַכֶּ֖הare you striking
takehH5221 →499 times
רֵעֶֽךָ׃companion your
reekhaH7453 →188 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.