Exodus 17:11

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Moses	מֹשֶׁ֛ה mo.Sheh	H4872	Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
up	יָרִ֥ים ya.Rim	H7311	to be high actively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand	יָד֖וֹ ya.Do	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
prevailed	וְגָבַ֣ר ve.ga.Var	H1396	to be strong · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
down	יָנִ֛יחַ ya.Ni.ach	H5117	to rest · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand	יָד֖וֹ ya.Do	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Amalek	עֲמָלֵֽק 'a.ma.Lek	H6002	Amalek · proper noun, a place name
prevailed	וְגָבַ֥ר ve.ga.Var	H1396	to be strong · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular

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

1 Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availet…
Psalms 56:9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 17:8–end

We have here the story of the war with Amalek, which, we may suppose, was the first that was recorded in the book of the wars of the Lord, Num 21:14. Amalek was the first of the nations that Israel fought with, Num 24:20. Observe, I. Amalek's attempt: They came out, and fought with Israel, Exo 17:8. The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau, who hated Jacob because of the birthright and blessing, and this was an effort of the hereditary enmity, a malice that ran in the blood, and perhaps was now exasperated by the working of the promise towards an accomplishment. Consider this, 1. As Israel's affliction. They had been quarrelling with Moses (Exo 17:2), and now God sends Amalekites to quarrel…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 17:10

Moses . . . went up . . . the hill . . . held up his hand--with the wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid the feebleness of nature.

Adam Clarke on Exodus 17:11

When Moses held up his hand - We cannot understand this transaction in any literal way; for the lifting up or letting down the hands of Moses could not, humanly speaking, influence the battle. It is likely that he held up the rod of God in his hand, Exo 17:9, as an ensign to the people. We have already seen that in prayer the hands were generally lifted up and spread out, (See Clarke's note on Exo 9:29), and therefore it is likely that by this act prayer and supplication are intended. The Jerusalem Targum says, "When Moses held up his hands in prayer, the house of Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands from prayer, the house of Amalek prevailed." We may therefore conclude, that by…

Read the whole note in the console

John Gill on Exodus 17:11

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed,.... With his rod in it as a banner displayed, as some think, which inspired the Israelites with courage to fight, and they had the better of it; though Aben Ezra rejects that notion, observing, that if that had been the case, Aaron or Hur would have lifted it up, or fixed it in a high place on the mount, that it might have been seen standing; and therefore he thinks the sense of the ancients the most correct, that it was a prayer gesture. And among the Heathens, Moses was famous for the efficacy of his prayers; Numenius, the Pythagoric philosopher (y), says of him, that he was a man very powerful in prayer with God: and…

The Church Fathers

For my own warfare, however, I am at a loss what course to pursue, what alliance, what word of wisdom, what grace to devise, with what panoply to arm myself against the wiles of the wicked one. What Moses did is to conquer him by stretching out his hands upon the mount, in order that the cross, thus typified and prefigured, may prevail.
— Gregory of Nazianzus, ORATION 2.88

For in this way, when the eyes are lifted up through thought and contemplation and the hands are lifted up in deeds which lift up and exalt the soul, as Moses lifted up his hands, one may consequently say, "The lifting up of my hands is as the evening sacrifice." In this way the Amalekites and all the unseen enemies will be worsted, and the Israelite reasonings in us will prevail.
— Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 28.37

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

Agag — Flame, the usual title of the Amalekite kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian. (1.) A king of the Amalekites referred to by Balaam (Num. 24:7). He lived at the time of the Exodus. (2.) Another king…
Amalekite — A tribe that dwelt in Arabia Petraea, between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. They were not the descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, for they existed in the days of Abraham (Gen. 14:7). They were…
Amalekites — a nomadic tribe of uncertain origin, which occupied the peninsula of Sinai and the wilderness intervening between the southern hill-ranges of Palestine and the border of Egypt. (Numbers 13:29; 1…
Hur — A hole, as of a viper, etc. (1.) A son of Caleb (1 Chr. 2:19, 50; 4:1, 4; comp. 2 Chr. 1:5). (2.) The husband of Miriam, Moses’ sister (Ex. 17:10-12). He was associated with Aaron in charge of the…
Joshua — Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Saviour. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua in Num. 13:16 (A.V.), and Jesus in Acts…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Purim — (lots), the annual festival instituted to commemorate the preservation of the Jews in Persia from the massacre with which they were threatened through the machinations of Haman. (Esther 9:1) ... It…
Sinai — Of Sin (the moon god), called also Horeb, the name of the mountain district which was reached by the Hebrews in the third month after the Exodus. Here they remained encamped for about a whole year.…
Wars of the Lord, The Book of the — (Num. 21:14, 15), some unknown book so called (comp. Gen. 14:14-16; Ex. 17:8-16; Num. 14:40-45; 21:1-3, 21-25, 33-35; 31. The wars here recorded might be thus designated).
Amalekites, The · Discomfited at Rephidim through the intercession of Moses

Exodus 17:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 17:8–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 17:10

Adam Clarke on Exodus 17:11

John Gill on Exodus 17:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 17:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 17:8–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 17:10

Adam Clarke on Exodus 17:11

John Gill on Exodus 17:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 17:8–end

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 17:8-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 17:9-13

Rashi on Exodus 17:11