Exodus 2:17
in Exodus 2And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
KJV
And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
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This verse in Exodus 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe shepherds - drove them - The verb יגרשים yegareshum, being in the masculine gender, seems to imply that the shepherds drove away the flocks of Reuel’s daughters, and not the daughters themselves. The fact seems to be, that, as the daughters of Reuel filled the troughs and brought their flocks to drink, the shepherds drove those away, and, profiting by the young women’s labor, watered their own cattle. Moses resisted this insolence, and assisted them to water their flocks, in consequence of which they were enabled to return much sooner than they were wont to do, Exo 2:18.
This site's exposition
the priest of Midian had seven daughters
on Exodus 2:16-17
Women come to draw water, shepherds drive them off, and Moses stands up and waters the flock himself. It is the same act he did in Egypt at verse 12, taking the part of people being pushed around, so his first recorded deed in each country is of one kind. The Genesis versions of the scene put the service at the water in other hands, Rebekah watering the camels at Genesis 24:19 and Jacob rolling the stone from the well at Genesis 29:10.
This site's exposition
Moses rose up to help them
Shepherds drove off the priest's daughters at the well, and Moses stood up for them and watered their flock. The scene echoes Jacob meeting Rachel at a well in Genesis 29, and it shows Moses again acting against injustice, this time without violence. Adam Clarke reads the Hebrew as saying the shepherds drove away the women's flocks in order to use the water the women had drawn.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Stood up and helped them - This be did, because wherever he was, as occasion offered itself, he loved to be doing justice, and appearing in the defense of such as he saw injured.
And the shepherds came and drove them away,....
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הָרֹעִ֖ים | haroim | the shepherds | H7462 → | 177 times |
| וַיְגָרְשׁ֑וּם | vaygareshum | and they drove away them | H1644 → | 46 times |
| וַיָּ֤קָם | vaiyakom | and he arose | H6965 → | 628 times |
| מֹשֶׁה֙ | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| וַיּ֣וֹשִׁעָ֔ן | vaiyooshian | and he delivered them | H3467 → | |
| וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ | vaiyashk | and he watered | H8248 → | 61 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| צֹאנָֽם׃ | tzonam | flock their | H6629 → | 274 times |
וַיָּבֹ֥אוּand they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
הָרֹעִ֖יםthe shepherds
haroimH7462 →177 times
וַיְגָרְשׁ֑וּםand they drove away them
vaygareshumH1644 →46 times
וַיָּ֤קָםand he arose
vaiyakomH6965 →628 times
מֹשֶׁה֙Moses
moshehH4872 →765 times
וַיּ֣וֹשִׁעָ֔ןand he delivered them
vaiyooshianH3467 →
וַיַּ֖שְׁקְand he watered
vaiyashkH8248 →61 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
צֹאנָֽם׃flock their
tzonamH6629 →274 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 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
Genesis 21:25But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
it leads to
- Genesis 26:15–22
So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.
- Genesis 29:8
But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”
- Proverbs 27:5
Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.
- Proverbs 25:9
Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,
- Proverbs 17:10
A rebuke cuts into a man of discernment deeper than a hundred lashes cut into a fool.
- Genesis 26:15–22
Through
Exodus 2:12After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
it leads to
- Acts 7:24–26
And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him.
- Acts 7:24–26
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.