Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Exodus 32:11

in Exodus 32

But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

KJV

And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

⋯

This verse in Exodus 32

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

on Exodus 32:11-13

Now Moses is standing in the gap to turn away the wrath of God, Ps. cvi. He wisely took the hint which God gave him when he said, Let me alone, which, though it seemed to forbid his interceding, did really encourage it, by showing what power the prayer of faith has with God.

This site's exposition

why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people

on Exodus 32:11-12

Moses hands the people straight back, calling them thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt, and reversing the pronoun of verse 7. He argues from what Egypt would say rather than from anything Israel has earned. Psalm 106:23 looks back on this moment and says Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

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?
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Exodus 32:10:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
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.
Targum · Onkelos Exodus 32:10, via Sefaria, Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 [with Onkelos translation]

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

20 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיְחַ֣לand he entreated

    vaychalH2470 →

  • מֹשֶׁ֔הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • פְּנֵ֖י[the] face of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • יְהוָ֣הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹהָ֑יוGod his

    ʾelohavH430 →2601 times

  • וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לָמָ֤ה<to> why?

    lamahH4100 →752 times

  • יְהוָה֙O Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • יֶחֱרֶ֤הdoes it burn

    yecherehH2734 →91 times

  • אַפְּךָ֙anger your

    ʾapekhaH639 →276 times

  • בְּעַמֶּ֔ךָon people your

    beamekhaH5971 →1873 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • הוֹצֵ֙אתָ֙you brought out

    hotzetaH3318 →1067 times

  • מֵאֶ֣רֶץfrom [the] land of

    meeretzH776 →2504 times

  • מִצְרַ֔יִםEgypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • בְּכֹ֥חַwith power

    bekhoachH3581 →126 times

  • גָּד֖וֹלgreat

    gadolH1419 →526 times

  • וּבְיָ֥דand by a hand

    uveyadH3027 →1618 times

  • חֲזָקָֽה׃strong

    chazakahH2389 →56 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Exodus 32:7Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.7 worksDeuteronomy 9:18–20Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.6 worksNehemiah 1:10They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand.5 worksExodus 8:12After Moses and Aaron had left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD for help with the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh.5 worksDeuteronomy 9:26–29And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.4 works1 Peter 5:6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.4 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Exodus 32:1Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”4 worksMalachi 1:9“But ask now for God’s favor. Will He be gracious? Since this has come from your hands, will He show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.4 worksPsalms 106:23So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.3 worksDaniel 9:15Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for Yourself a name renowned to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.3 worksExodus 6:26It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.”3 worksLamentations 2:20Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?3 worksExodus 32:10Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”3 worksNumbers 21:7Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.2 worksNumbers 27:4Why should the name of our father disappear from his clan because he had no sons? Give us property among our father’s brothers.”2 worksExodus 32:19As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain.2 worksExodus 16:6So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,2 worksLuke 15:30But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Numbers 16:22

    But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

    it leads to

    • Numbers 27:16

      “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation

    • Zechariah 12:1

      This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man…

    • Job 12:10

      The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

    • Hebrews 12:9

      Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

    • Ecclesiastes 12:7

      before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

  • Through

    Psalms 106:23

    So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 9:25

      So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

    • Deuteronomy 9:13–14

      The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

    • James 5:16

      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.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 32 →

This page draws on Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 32 →