Exodus 8:26
in Exodus 8But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable before the Egyptians, will they not stone us?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?
KJV
And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?
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This verse in Exodus 8
Commentary
10 notes on this verseYou tell me that you have felt a difficulty in the text We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. But you had the means of solving it, for it is written in the book of Genesis, that a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians, and this not on account of the shepherd himself, but of his flocks. For the Egyptians were tillers of the ground, but Abraham and Jacob, and afterwards Moses and David, were shepherds, and in this function exercised a certain kingly discipline.
This site's exposition
Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land
on Exodus 8:25-26
This is the first of Pharaoh's counteroffers, and every one that follows works the same way, by granting the worship and keeping the people. Sacrifice inside Egypt would leave Israel where it is and turn the service into a licensed local custom, which is the shape of the offers at 10:11 and 10:24 as well. Moses refuses on a practical ground, that what Israel offers is an abomination to the Egyptians, and Genesis 46:34 had already recorded that every shepherd is an abomination unto them.
This site's exposition
would be detestable to the Egyptians
Moses refuses the offer of verse 25 to sacrifice inside Egypt. Israel's offerings would be detestable to the Egyptians, and a public sacrifice could provoke them to stone the worshippers. Adam Clarke takes the detestable things to be animals Egypt held sacred, while Ambrose of Milan links the verse with the statement in Genesis that shepherds were detestable to the Egyptians.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The Egyptians disdained the eating of sheep. But what the Egyptians abhor, the Israelites offer to God. The unjust despise a clean conscience as weak and abject, but the just turn it into a sacrifice to God of virtue. The righteous, as they worship God, …
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
PateriusEXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, EXODUS 13 · Written before 606.
proposed
The Egyptians disdained the eating of sheep. But what the Egyptians abhor, the Israelites offer to God. The unjust despise a clean conscience as weak and abject, but the just turn it into a sacrifice to God of virtue. The righteous, as they worship God, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And Moses said, it is not meet so to do,....
It would be an abomination to God should they offer the Egyptian sacrifices, and an abomination to the Egyptians should they offer to God their own sacrifices, as they ought; so that they could not sacrifice in the land without incurring the displeasure either of their God or of their task-masters; therefore he insists: We will go three days' journey into the wilderness,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians - That is, The animals which they hold sacred, and will not permit to be slain, are those which our customs require us to sacrifice to our God; and should we do this in Egypt the people would rise in a mass, and stone us to death. Perhaps few people were more superstitious than the Egyptians.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Pharaoh called for Moses, . . . Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land, &c.--Between impatient anxiety to be freed from this scourge and a reluctance on the part of the Hebrew bondsmen, the king followed the course of expediency; he proposed to let them free to engage in their religious rites within any part of the kingdom.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The abomination - i. e. an animal which the Egyptians held it sacrilegious to slay. The ox, bull, or cow, is meant. The cow was never sacrificed in Egypt, being sacred to Isis, and from a very early age the ox was worshipped throughout Egypt, and more especially at Heliopolis and Memphis under various designations, Apis, Mnevis, Amen-Ehe, as the symbol or manifestation of their greatest deities, Osiris, Atum, Ptah, and Isis.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֗ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נָכוֹן֙ | nakhon | [is] established | H3559 → | 217 times |
| לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת | laasot | to do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כֵּ֔ן | ken | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת | toavat | [the] abomination of | H8441 → | |
| מִצְרַ֔יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| נִזְבַּ֖ח | nizbach | we will sacrifice | H2076 → | 134 times |
| לַיהוָ֣ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ | ʾeloheinu | God our | H430 → | 2601 times |
| הֵ֣ן | hen | here! | H2005 → | 316 times |
| נִזְבַּ֞ח | nizbach | we will sacrifice | H2076 → | 134 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| תּוֹעֲבַ֥ת | toavat | [the] abomination of | H8441 → | |
| מִצְרַ֛יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם | leeineihem | to eyes their | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִסְקְלֻֽנוּ׃ | yiskelunu | will they stone? us | H5619 → | 22 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מֹשֶׁ֗הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נָכוֹן֙[is] established
nakhonH3559 →217 times
לַעֲשׂ֣וֹתto do
laasotH6213 →2628 times
כֵּ֔ןthus
kenH3651 →771 times
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת[the] abomination of
toavatH8441 →
מִצְרַ֔יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
נִזְבַּ֖חwe will sacrifice
nizbachH2076 →134 times
לַיהוָ֣הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּGod our
ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times
הֵ֣ןhere!
henH2005 →316 times
נִזְבַּ֞חwe will sacrifice
nizbachH2076 →134 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
תּוֹעֲבַ֥ת[the] abomination of
toavatH8441 →
מִצְרַ֛יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖םto eyes their
leeineihemH5869 →887 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יִסְקְלֻֽנוּ׃will they stone? us
yiskelunuH5619 →22 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
Isaiah 44:19And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:15
‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people…
- 1 Kings 11:5
Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
- 1 Kings 11:7
At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.
- Ezekiel 40:4
“Son of man,” he said to me, “look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought…
- Isaiah 45:20
Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
- Deuteronomy 27:15
Through
Genesis 43:32They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them.
it leads to
- Genesis 46:34
you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable…
- Genesis 46:34
Through
Genesis 46:34you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable…
it leads to
- Genesis 43:32
They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them.
- Genesis 37:12
Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem.
- Genesis 43:32
About Exodus

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Letter 27.1-3; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 27; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pacian of Barcelona, Commentary (church-history corpus) and Paterius, EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, EXODUS 13.
