Exodus 4:11
in Exodus 4And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah?
KJV
And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?
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This verse in Exodus 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I am not eloquent--It is supposed that Moses labored under a natural defect of utterance or had a difficulty in the free and fluent expression of his ideas in the Egyptian language, which he had long disused. This new objection was also overruled, but still Moses, who foresaw the manifold difficulties of the undertaking, was anxious to be freed from the responsibility.
This site's exposition
I am not eloquent
on Exodus 4:10-12
The next objection is his own mouth, and the Hebrew idiom behind slow of speech reads as heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue. God's answer moves off the mouth and onto its maker, naming the dumb and the deaf and the blind as his own doing, then promising to be with the mouth and to teach it what to say. Acts 7:22 says Moses was mighty in words and in deeds, and readers have long set that beside this verse without settling how the two fit together.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
There are some who bring false charges against God, or rather against the Scriptures of the Old Testament, because God said that he himself makes a man blind or mute. So what do they say about Christ the Lord, who says openly in the Gospel, "I have come so that those who are blind may see and those who see might be made blind"? Who besides a fool would believe that something can happen to a man in regard to corporeal defects that God did not will? No one doubts that God wills all things justly.
Just as in Exodus God speaks to Moses, when he delays and fears to go to the people, saying, "Who gave a mouth to man and who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Did not I the Lord God? Go now, and I shall open your mouth, and I will teach you what you shall speak."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 10 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The first object of speculation is the fact that God is. The first name of God is "To Be" which is most manifest and most perfect — and therefore, first. Hence nothing is more manifest, for anything said of God is retraced to being: this …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the Lord said unto him, who hath made man's mouth?....
45 . [2.] Their imperfections are from him too; he make the dumb, and deaf, and blind. Is there any evil of this kind, and the Lord has not done it? No doubt he has, and always in wisdom and righteousness, and for his own glory, John ix.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Who hath made man’s mouth? etc. - Cannot he who formed the mouth, the whole organs of speech, and hath given the gift of speech also, cannot he give utterance? God can take away those gifts and restore them again. Do not provoke him: he who created the eye, the ear, and the mouth, hath also made the blind, the deaf, and the dumb.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Behold, God did not now. As our verse may be taken to imply. promise Moses that He would remove the slowness of his tongue.
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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֜ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֵלָ֗יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מִ֣י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| שָׂ֣ם | sam | did he make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| פֶּה֮ | peh | a mouth | H6310 → | 498 times |
| לָֽאָדָם֒ | laadam | of <the> person | H120 → | 551 times |
| א֚וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יָשׂ֣וּם | yasum | does he make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| אִלֵּ֔ם | ʾilem | dumb | H483 → | |
| א֣וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| חֵרֵ֔שׁ | cheresh | deaf | H2795 → | |
| א֥וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| פִקֵּ֖חַ | fikeach | seeing | H6493 → | |
| א֣וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| עִוֵּ֑ר | ʾiver | blind | H5787 → | |
| הֲלֹ֥א | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אָנֹכִ֖י | ʾanokhi | [do] I | H595 → | 359 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֜הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֵלָ֗יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
מִ֣יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
שָׂ֣םdid he make
samH7760 →584 times
פֶּה֮a mouth
pehH6310 →498 times
לָֽאָדָם֒of <the> person
laadamH120 →551 times
א֚וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יָשׂ֣וּםdoes he make
yasumH7760 →584 times
אִלֵּ֔םdumb
ʾilemH483 →
א֣וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
חֵרֵ֔שׁdeaf
chereshH2795 →
א֥וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
פִקֵּ֖חַseeing
fikeachH6493 →
א֣וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
עִוֵּ֑רblind
ʾiverH5787 →
הֲלֹ֥א¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
אָנֹכִ֖י[do] I
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
Amos 3:6If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
it leads to
- Isaiah 45:7
I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Isaiah 14:24–27
The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Zephaniah 1:16
a day of horn blast and battle cry against the fortified cities, and against the high corner towers.
- Isaiah 45:7
Through
Psalms 146:8the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
it leads to
- Psalms 145:14
The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
- Psalms 11:7
For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
- Acts 26:18
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified…
- Matthew 9:30
And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one finds out about this!”
- Psalms 145:14
Through
Isaiah 6:7And with it he touched my mouth and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 1:9
Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
- Jeremiah 1:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS 8; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 10; Cyprian, Treatise XI. Exhortation to Martyrdom 10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.