Exodus 5:3
in Exodus 5“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto Jehovah our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
KJV
And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
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This verse in Exodus 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Three days’ journey - See the Exo 3:18 note. With pestilence, or with the sword - This shows that the plague was well known to the ancient Egyptians. The reference to the sword is equally natural, since the Israelites occupied the eastern district, which was frequently disturbed by the neighboring Shasous.
This site's exposition
The God of the Hebrews hath met with us
The three day march into the desert repeats the wording Moses was given at the bush. God gave him these words at Exodus 3:18, including the title the God of the Hebrews and the length of the march, so Moses delivers the errand as it was framed for him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the partial request as a way of testing the king before the whole intention was disclosed, and the text itself reports only the words.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We pray thee, let us go three days journey into the desert - And that on a good errand, and unexceptionable: we will sacrifice to the Lord our God - As other people do to theirs; lest if we quite cast off his worship, he fall upon us - With one judgment or other, and then Pharaoh will lose his vassals.
And they said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us,....
They make no complaint of the rigour they were ruled with. They plead that the journey they designed was not a project formed among themselves, but that their God had met with them, and called them to it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In saying this, they concealed their ultimate design of abandoning the kingdom, and by making this partial request at first, they probably wished to try the king's temper before they disclosed their intentions any farther.
Three days’ journey - The distance from Goshen to Sinai; see Exo 3:18. And sacrifice unto the Lord - Great stress is laid on this circumstance. God required sacrifice; no religious acts which they performed could be acceptable to him without this. He had now showed them that it was their indispensable duty thus to worship him, and that if they did not they might expect him to send the pestilence - some plague or death proceeding immediately from himself, or the sword - extermination by the hands of an enemy. The original word דבר deber, from בדר dabar, to drive off, draw under, etc., which we translate pestilence from the Latin pestis, the plague, signifies any kind of disease by which an extraordinary mortality is occasioned, and which appears from the circumstances of the case to come immediately from God. The Israelites could not sacrifice in the land of Egypt, because the animals they were to offer to God were held sacred by the Egyptians; and they could not omit this duty, because it was essential to religion even before the giving of the law. Thus we find that Divine justice required the life of the animal for the life of the transgressor, and the people were conscious, if this were not done, that God would consume them with the pestilence or the sword. From the foundation of the world the true religion required sacrifice. Before, under, and after the law, this was deemed essential to salvation. Under the Christian dispensation Jesus is the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world; and being still the Lamb newly slain before the throne, no man cometh unto the Father but by him. “In this first application to Pharaoh, we observe,” says Dr. Dodd, “that proper respectful submission which is due from subjects to their sovereign. […]
The words behind it
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֥י | ʾelohei | [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| הָעִבְרִ֖ים | haivrim | the Hebrews | H5680 → | 34 times |
| נִקְרָ֣א | nikra' | he has met | H7122 → | 139 times |
| עָלֵ֑ינוּ | ʾaleinu | with us | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נֵ֣לֲכָה | nelakhah | let us go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| נָּ֡א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| דֶּרֶךְ֩ | derekh | a journey of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת | sheloshet | three | H7969 → | 432 times |
| יָמִ֜ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| בַּמִּדְבָּ֗ר | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| וְנִזְבְּחָה֙ | venizbechah | and let us sacrifice | H2076 → | 134 times |
| לַֽיהוָ֣ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ | ʾeloheinu | God our | H430 → | 2601 times |
| פֶּ֨ן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| יִפְגָּעֵ֔נוּ | yifgaenu | he should fall on us | H6293 → | 46 times |
| בַּדֶּ֖בֶר | badever | with <the> pestilence | H1698 → | 49 times |
| א֥וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| בֶחָֽרֶב׃ | vecharev | with the sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
אֱלֹהֵ֥י[the] God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
הָעִבְרִ֖יםthe Hebrews
haivrimH5680 →34 times
נִקְרָ֣אhe has met
nikra'H7122 →139 times
עָלֵ֑ינוּwith us
ʾaleinuH5921 →5755 times
נֵ֣לֲכָהlet us go
nelakhahH1980 →1546 times
נָּ֡אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
דֶּרֶךְ֩a journey of
derekhH1870 →707 times
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁתthree
sheloshetH7969 →432 times
יָמִ֜יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
בַּמִּדְבָּ֗רin the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
וְנִזְבְּחָה֙and let us sacrifice
venizbechahH2076 →134 times
לַֽיהוָ֣הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּGod our
ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times
פֶּ֨ן־lest
pen-H6435 →133 times
יִפְגָּעֵ֔נוּhe should fall on us
yifgaenuH6293 →46 times
בַּדֶּ֖בֶרwith <the> pestilence
badeverH1698 →49 times
א֥וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
בֶחָֽרֶב׃with the sword
vecharevH2719 →413 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 28:21The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 24:10
And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 26:25
And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into…
- Jeremiah 24:10
Through
Exodus 3:18The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with…
it leads to
- Exodus 9:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
- Exodus 7:16
Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But you have not…
- Exodus 10:24–26
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your little ones may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”
- Exodus 9:1
Through
2 Chronicles 30:8Now do not stiffen your necks as your fathers did. Submit to the LORD and come to His sanctuary, which He has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that His fierce anger…
it leads to
- Exodus 32:9
The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.
- 2 Chronicles 29:10
Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us.
- Exodus 32:9
Through
Ezekiel 6:11This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:12
A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every…
- Ezekiel 5:12
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.