perhaps properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
ears
בְּאָזְנֵ֣יbe.'a.ze.Nei
H241
broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in ma… · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct
people
הָעָ֑םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
אִ֣ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
borrow
וְיִשְׁאֲל֞וּve.yish.'a.Lu
H7592
to inquire · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
neighbour
רֵעֵ֗הוּre.'E.hu
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
woman
וְאִשָּׁה֙ve.'i.Shah
H802
a woman · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
neighbour
רְעוּתָ֔הּre.'u.Tah
H7468
a female associate · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
jewels
כְּלֵיke.lei-
H3627
something prepared · noun, common masculine plural construct
silver
כֶ֖סֶףKhe.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
jewels
וּכְלֵ֥יu.khe.Lei
H3627
something prepared · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
gold
זָהָֽבza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 3:22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: a…
Exodus 12:35-36 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and…
Psalms 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Psalms 105:37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
Haggai 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
Matthew 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Genesis 31:9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 11:1-3
Here is, I. The high favour Moses and Israel were in with God. 1. Moses was a favourite of Heaven, for God will not hide from him the thing he will do. God not only makes him his messenger to deliver his errands, but communicates to him his purpose (as the man of his counsel) that he would bring one plague more, and but one, upon Pharaoh, by which he would complete the deliverance of Israel, Exo 11:1. Moses longed to see an end of this dreadful work, to see Egypt no more plagued and Israel no more oppressed: "Well," says God, "now it is near an end; the warfare shall shortly be accomplished, the point gained; Pharaoh shall be forced to own himself conquered, and to give up the cause." After…
Speak now in the ears of the people--These verses, describing the communication which had been made in private to Moses, are inserted here as a parenthesis, and will be considered (Exo 12:35).
Adam Clarke on Exodus 11:2
Let every man borrow - For a proper correction of the strange mistranslation of the word שאל shaal in this verse, see Clarke's note on Exo 3:22.
John Gill on Exodus 11:2
Speak now in the ears of the people,.... This cannot be understood of the whole body of the people being gathered together, but of some of the principal ones, who should communicate it to others, and so from one to another, until all the heads and masters of families became acquainted with it:
and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold; to ornament themselves with at the feast they were going to keep: the Samaritan and Septuagint versions add, and clothing or raiment, and such it is certain they did borrow, Exodus 12:35 or vessels (p) of different forms, made of gold and silver, such as were fit and proper to be used at…
What say you? Thus it has pleased him that you should come forth out of Egypt, the iron furnace; that you should leave behind the idolatry of that country and be led by Moses and his lawgiving and martial rule. I give you a piece of advice which is not my own, or rather which is very much my own, if you consider the matter spiritually. Borrow from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver. With these take your journey. Supply yourself for the road with the goods of strangers, or rather with your own. There is money owing to you, the wages of your bondage and of your brick making. Be clever on your side too in asking retribution. Be an honest robber. You did suffer wrong there while you were fighting with the clay (that is, this troublesome and filthy body) and were building cities foreign and unsafe, whose memorial perishes with a cry. What then? Do you come out for nothing and without wages? But why will you leave to the Egyptians and to the powers of your adversaries that which they have gained by wickedness and will spend with yet greater wickedness? It does not belong to them. They have ravished it and have sacrilegiously taken it as plunder from him who says, "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, and I give it to whom I will." Yesterday it was theirs, for it was permitted to be so. Today the master takes it and gives it to you that you may make a good and saving use of it. Let us make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when we fail, they may receive us in the time of judgment.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
First-born — Sons enjoyed certain special privileges (Deut. 21:17; Gen. 25:23, 31, 34; 49:3; 1 Chr. 5:1; Heb. 12:16; Ps. 89:27). (See BIRTHRIGHT.) The “first-born of the poor” signifies the most miserable of the…
Goshen — (1.) A district in Egypt where Jacob and his family settled, and in which they remained till the Exodus (Gen. 45:10; 46:28, 29, 31, etc.). It is called “the land of Goshen” (47:27), and also simply…
Borrowing · .Israelites from the Egyptians — .Israelites from the Egyptians
Gold · .Into ornaments — .Into ornaments
Jewels · Borrowed from Egyptians by Israelites — Borrowed from Egyptians by Israelites
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Exodus 11:2
Speak now in the ears of the people. He repeats His command as to spoiling the Egyptians, of which mention was made in the third chapter, for it was not enough for God to rescue His people from that cruel tyranny under which their wretched lives were scarcely protracted in great poverty and distress, unless He also enriched them with large possessions, as if they were carrying away the prizes of victory from conquered enemies. This, therefore, was the consummation of His otherwise extraordinary bounty, that they departed splendidly adorned, [133] and laden with precious furniture. We have already explained how it was lawful for the Israelites to take away with them the golden and silver vess…
In this way Jehovah would overcome the resistance of Pharaoh; and even more than that, for Moses was to tell the people to ask the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, for Jehovah would make them willing to give. The renown acquired by Moses through his miracles in Egypt would also contribute to this. (For the discussion of this subject, see Exo 3:21-22.) The communication of these instructions to the people is not expressly mentioned; but it is referred to in Exo 12:35-36, as having taken place.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 11:1-9
The final plague was the death of the firstborn sons. The Egyptians worshiped life. They gave so much attention to preparations for life after death because they wanted to ensure that it would be at least as good as their lives in Egypt. Death itself is in God’s hand. There is no underworld god who can ultimately defeat the God of life. Both life and death belong to the Lord.
Rashi on Exodus 11:2
דבר נא SPEAK נא — The word נא is always an expression of entreaty. Here it means: I entreat you, admonish them about this which follows (impress this injunction upon them), so that righteous man, Abraham, may not say: the prophecy (Genesis 15:13) “they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them” He permitted to be fulfilled in them, but the promise (Genesis 15:14) “and afterwards they shall go forth with great substance” He did not bring to fulfilment for them (Berakhot 9a-b).
