Exodus 8:23
in Exodus 8I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will put a division between my people and thy people: by to-morrow shall this sign be.
KJV
And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.
⋯
This verse in Exodus 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd I will put a division - פדת peduth, a redemption, between my people and thy people; God hereby showing that he had redeemed them from those plagues to which he had abandoned the others.
This site's exposition
I will sever in that day the land of Goshen
on Exodus 8:22-23
For the first time the text says outright that a plague will stop at a border, and the border is Goshen, where Genesis 47:6 settled Jacob's family. The stated reason is knowledge again, to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. Clarke observes that the word rendered division at verse 23 is peduth, which elsewhere carries the sense of a redemption, so the line drawn between the two peoples is described with a word for ransom.
This site's exposition
I will make a distinction between My people
The LORD sets a line between Israel and Egypt, and Goshen is spared the flies. This is the first exemption the text records, and it is given a date, tomorrow, so that its arrival can be tested against the word. Adam Clarke notes that the Hebrew word here means a redemption, and he reads the distinction as God redeeming His people from the plagues sent on Egypt.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Note, The Lord knows those that are his, and will make it appear, perhaps in this world, certainly in the other, that he has set them apart for himself. A day will come when you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked ( Mal. iii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And I will put a division between my people and thy people,.... Or, a "redemption" (p); for by distinguishing them in his providence from the Egyptians, he might be said to redeem or deliver them; thus God makes a difference between his chosen people and the rest of the world, through his Son's redemption of them by his blood, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation: tomorrow shall this sign be: which, according to Bishop Usher, must be the twenty nineth day of Adar or February. (p) פדות "redemptionem", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.
It is probable that this distinction had not been so manifest and observable in any of the foregoing plagues as it was to be in this. Thus, as the plague of lice was made more convincing than any before it, by its running the magicians aground, so was this, by the distinction made between the Egyptians and the Hebrews.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The worship of flies, particularly of the beetle, was a prominent part of the religion of the ancient Egyptians. The employment of these winged deities to chastise them must have been painful and humiliating to the Egyptians while it must at the same time have strengthened the faith of the Israelites in the God of their fathers as the only object of worship.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשַׂמְתִּ֣י | vesamti | and I will make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| פְדֻ֔ת | fedut | a ransom | H6304 → | |
| בֵּ֥ין | bein | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| עַמִּ֖י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וּבֵ֣ין | uvein | and between | H996 → | 407 times |
| עַמֶּ֑ךָ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לְמָחָ֥ר | lemachar | to tomorrow | H4279 → | 52 times |
| יִהְיֶ֖ה | yihyeh | it will happen | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| הָאֹ֥ת | haot | the sign | H226 → | 80 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וְשַׂמְתִּ֣יand I will make
vesamtiH7760 →584 times
פְדֻ֔תa ransom
fedutH6304 →
בֵּ֥יןbetween
beinH996 →407 times
עַמִּ֖יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
וּבֵ֣יןand between
uveinH996 →407 times
עַמֶּ֑ךָpeople your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
לְמָחָ֥רto tomorrow
lemacharH4279 →52 times
יִהְיֶ֖הit will happen
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
הָאֹ֥תthe sign
haotH226 →80 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Exodus

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
