Exodus 32:10
in Exodus 32Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
KJV
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
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This verse in Exodus 32
Commentary
11 notes on this verseMoses resisted God and prevented him from destroying his people when God said to him: "Let me alone, that I may strike this people." Just see the power of Moses! What does God say to him? Let me alone; you are compelling me, your prayers, as it were, restrain me; your prayers hold back my hand. I shoot an arrow; I hurl a javelin; and your prayers are the shield of the people. Let me alone that I might strike down this people. Along with this, consider the compassionate kindness of God.
This site's exposition
behold, it is a stiffnecked people
on Exodus 32:9-10
The word stiffnecked occurs here for the first time in Scripture, and it returns at 33:3, 33:5, 34:9 and Deuteronomy 9:6. Let me alone is an odd thing to say to a man who has said nothing, and Matthew Henry reads it as leaving the door open for the intercession that follows. The offer to make of Moses a great nation is the promise given to Abram at Genesis 12:2, and it is offered a second time after the spies at Numbers 14:12.
This site's exposition
Now leave Me alone
Jerome read Leave Me alone as God showing that the prayers of His servant could hold back His hand. Adam Clarke sets the scene beside Abraham's pleading for Sodom at Genesis 18:23 to 33. Augustine notes that Moses refused and stayed with the sinners.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Ephrem the SyrianCOMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 14:27 · Written before 373.
proposed
When he wished that [the fig tree] be uprooted, the event was similar to that earlier one, when the Father said to Moses, "Permit me to destroy the people." He [thus] gave him a reason to intercede with him. Here too he showed the vinedresser …
On another occasion God said to Moses, "Let me alone … that I may consume this people," showing by the words "let me alone" that he can be withheld from doing what he threatens. The prayers of his servant hindered his power. Who, think you, is there now under heaven able to stay God's wrath, to face the flame of his judgment and to say with the apostle, "I could wish that I myself were accursed for my brethren"?
And in case you should suppose that he acted like this more from necessity than from charity, God actually offered him another people: "And I will make you," he said, "into a great nation," so leaving himself free to eliminate those others. But Moses wouldn't accept this: he sticks to the sinners; he prays for the sinners. And how does he pray? This is a wonderful proof of his love, brothers and sisters. How does he pray? Notice something I've often spoken of, how his love is almost that of a mother. When God threatened that sacrilegious people, Moses' maternal instincts were roused, and on their behalf he stood up to the anger of God. "Lord," he said, "if you will forgive them this sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out from the book you have written." What sure maternal and paternal instincts, how sure his reliance, as he said this, on the justice and mercy of God! He knew that because he is just he wouldn't destroy a just man, and because he is merciful he would pardon sinners.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Now, therefore, let me alone,....
Note, Sin exposes us to the wrath of God; and that wrath, if it be not allayed by divine mercy, will burn us up as stubble. It were just with God to let the law have its course against sinners, and to cut them off immediately in the very act of sin; and, if he should do so, it would be neither loss nor dishonour to him.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Now therefore let me alone - Moses had already begun to plead with God in the behalf of this rebellious and ungrateful people; and so powerful was his intercession that even the Omnipotent represents himself as incapable of doing any thing in the way of judgment, unless his creature desisted from praying for mercy! See an instance of the prevalence of fervent intercession in the case of Abraham, Gen 18:23-33, from the model of which the intercession of Moses seems to have been formed.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down--Intelligence of the idolatrous scene enacted at the foot of the mount was communicated to Moses in language borrowed from human passions and feelings, and the judgment of a justly offended God was pronounced in terms of just indignation against the gross violation of the so recently promulgated laws.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
But the manner in which God spoke to Moses served two important purposes--it tended to develop the faith and intercessory patriotism of the Hebrew leader, and to excite the serious alarm of the people, that God would reject them and deprive them of the privileges they had fondly fancied were so secure.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The meaning of this cannot be “ let Me alone and I will become angry,” for if His anger had not been aroused yet, why should it wax hot as soon as Moses leaves Him alone?
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Now leave Me alone [ leave your prayer from before Me ] and My wrath will blaze against them and destroy 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. 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַתָּה֙ | veatah | and therefore | H6258 → | 433 times |
| הַנִּ֣יחָה | hanichah | leave alone ! | H5117 → | 142 times |
| לִּ֔י | li | <to> <the> me | ||
| וְיִֽחַר־ | veyichar- | so may it burn | H2734 → | 91 times |
| אַפִּ֥י | ʾapi | anger my | H639 → | 276 times |
| בָהֶ֖ם | vahem | on <the> them | ||
| וַאֲכַלֵּ֑ם | vaakhalem | so I may make an end of them | H3615 → | 208 times |
| וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה | veeeseh | and I may make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אוֹתְךָ֖ | ʾotkha | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְג֥וֹי | legoy | into a nation | H1471 → | 561 times |
| גָּדֽוֹל׃ | gadol | great | H1419 → | 526 times |
וְעַתָּה֙and therefore
veatahH6258 →433 times
הַנִּ֣יחָהleave alone !
hanichahH5117 →142 times
לִּ֔י<to> <the> me
li
וְיִֽחַר־so may it burn
veyichar-H2734 →91 times
אַפִּ֥יanger my
ʾapiH639 →276 times
בָהֶ֖םon <the> them
vahem
וַאֲכַלֵּ֑םso I may make an end of them
vaakhalemH3615 →208 times
וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥הand I may make
veeesehH6213 →2628 times
אוֹתְךָ֖<obj.> you
ʾotkhaH853 →10935 times
לְג֥וֹיinto a nation
legoyH1471 →561 times
גָּדֽוֹל׃great
gadolH1419 →526 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
Deuteronomy 9:14Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:20
The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot…
- Exodus 32:10–13
Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Deuteronomy 29:20
Through
Deuteronomy 9:19For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.
it leads to
- Exodus 32:14
So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.
- Deuteronomy 10:10
I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time, and that time the LORD again listened to me and agreed not to destroy you.
- James 5:16–17
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Exodus 33:17
So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”
- Psalms 99:6
Moses and Aaron were among His priests; Samuel was among those who called on His name. They called to the LORD and He answered.
- Exodus 32:14
Through
Exodus 22:24My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.
it leads to
- Psalms 109:9
May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
- Psalms 109:9
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 88.24; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 14:27; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 26; Jerome, LETTER 128.4; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.