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Exodus 32:13

in Exodus 32

Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

KJV

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

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

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants

on Exodus 32:13-14

Moses' last argument is the oath God swore by his own self at Genesis 22:16, and he asks nothing on the ground of what the people deserve. The text then says the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people, while Numbers 23:19 says God is not a man that he should repent. Readers have long divided here, some taking the language as spoken after the manner of men, which is how Charles Spurgeon takes it in his sermon on the mediation of Moses, and others reading a real turn made in answer to prayer.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Heaven forbid for the Lord to repent. 63 To change His mind. Medieval Jewish philosophers taught that God is unchanging.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 32:14:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

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

25 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.

  • זְכֹ֡רremember

    zekhorH2142230 times

  • לְאַבְרָהָם֩<to> Abraham

    leavrahamH85175 times

  • לְיִצְחָ֨ק<to> Isaac

    leyitzchakH3327108 times

  • וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜לand <to> Israel

    uleyisraelH34782507 times

  • עֲבָדֶ֗יךָservants your

    ʾavadeikhaH5650799 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhom

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • נִשְׁבַּ֣עְתָּyou swore

    nishba'taH7650186 times

  • לָהֶם֮to <the> them

    lahem

  • בָּךְ֒by <the> yourself

    bokh

  • וַתְּדַבֵּ֣רand you said

    vatedaberH16961141 times

  • אֲלֵהֶ֔םto them

    ʾalehemH4135510 times

  • אַרְבֶּה֙I will increase

    ʾarbehH7235227 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • זַרְעֲכֶ֔םoffspring your

    zarakhemH2233229 times

  • כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖יlike [the] stars of

    kechokhveiH3556

  • הַשָּׁמָ֑יִםthe heavens

    hashamayimH8064421 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH36055413 times

  • הָאָ֨רֶץthe land

    haaretzH7762504 times

  • הַזֹּ֜את<the> this

    hazotH2063603 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • אָמַ֗רְתִּיI have promised

    ʾamartiH5595305 times

  • אֶתֵּן֙I will give

    ʾetenH54142011 times

  • לְזַרְעֲכֶ֔םto offspring your

    lezarakhemH2233229 times

  • וְנָחֲל֖וּand they will possess [it]

    venachaluH515759 times

  • לְעֹלָֽם׃for ever

    leolamH5769438 times

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

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

    Hebrews 6:13

    When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,

    it leads to

  • Through

    Genesis 15:18

    On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

    it leads to

    • Genesis 13:15

      for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Joshua 1:3–4

      I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses.

    • Genesis 12:7

      Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

  • Through

    Genesis 22:16

    saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,

    it leads to

    • Luke 1:73

      the oath He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Genesis 15:5

    And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 11:12

      And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

    • Romans 4:18

      Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

    • Deuteronomy 1:10

      The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon 2398, Mediation of Moses and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.