Exodus 5:1

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
afterward	וְאַחַ֗ר ve.'a.Char	H310	properly · conjunction + cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
Moses	מֹשֶׁ֣ה mo.Sheh	H4872	Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
Aaron	וְאַהֲרֹ֔ן ve.'a.ha.Ron	H175	Aharon · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
in	בָּ֚אוּ Ba.'u	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
told	וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ vai.yo.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Pharaoh	פַּרְעֹ֑ה par.'Oh	H6547	Paroh · noun, masculine singular absolute
saith	אָמַ֤ר 'a.Mar	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	יְהוָה֙ Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God	אֱלֹהֵ֣י 'e.lo.Hei	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
people	עַמִּ֔י 'a.Mi	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
go	שַׁלַּח֙ sha.Lach	H7971	to send away · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
feast	וְיָחֹ֥גּוּ ve.ya.Cho.gu	H2287	properly · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
wilderness	בַּמִּדְבָּֽר ba.mid.Bar	H4057	a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + 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 10:9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we…
Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
1 Kings 21:20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil i…
Ezekiel 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell am…
Jonah 3:3-4 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in…
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sin…
Exodus 3:18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him,…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:1-2

Moses and Aaron, having delivered their message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in peril of their lives - Moses particularly, who perhaps was out-lawed for killing the Egyptian forty years before, so that if any of the old courtiers should happen to remember that against him now it might cost him his head. Their message itself was displeasing, and touch Pharaoh both in his honour and in his profit, two tender points; yet these faithful ambassadors boldly deliver it, whether he will hear or whether he will forbear. I. Their demand is piously bold: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, Exo 5:1. Moses,…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 5:1

And afterward Moses and Aaron went - This chapter is properly a continuation of the preceding, as the succeeding is a continuation of this; and to preserve the connection of the facts they should be read together. How simply, and yet with what authority, does Moses deliver his message to the Egyptian king! Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, Let my people go. It is well in this, as in almost every other case where יהוה Jehovah occurs, to preserve the original word: our using the word Lord is not sufficiently expressive, and often leaves the sense indistinct.

John Gill on Exodus 5:1

And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh,.... Whose name, some say, was Cenchres, others Amenophis, according to Manetho and Chaeremon (h); See Gill on Exodus 3:10 went into Pharaoh's palace, and being introduced by the proper officer at court for that purpose, addressed him in the following manner: thus saith the Lord God of Israel: as ambassadors of him, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords; and so Artapanus (i), the Heathen, says that the Egyptian king, hearing that Moses was come, sent for him to know wherefore he was come, who told him, that the Lord of the world commanded him to let the Jews go, as it follows here: let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto…

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The Church Fathers

Some ask how the people can be told that God gave the order that he would lead them from Egypt into the land of Canaan, while Pharaoh was told that they wanted to make three days' journey into the desert to offer sacrifice to their god by his command. But the passage should be understood thus: although God knew what he was going to do and knew that Pharaoh would not agree to dismiss the people, that fact was to be stated first that would also happen first, if Pharaoh let the people go. The contumacy of Pharaoh and his courtiers merited everything that happened, to which the Scripture afterward attests. God is not lying when he commands what he knows is not going to be done by the one he commands; his purpose is to obtain a just judgment.
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS 13

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

Pharaoh — The official title borne by the Egyptian kings down to the time when that country was conquered by the Greeks. (See EGYPT.) The name is a compound, as some think, of the words Ra, the “sun” or…
Egypt · History of Israel in: Pharaoh increases their affliction — History of Israel in: Pharaoh increases their affliction
Rebellion Against God · Exemplified: Pharaoh — Exemplified: Pharaoh

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).

Exodus 5:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:1-2

Adam Clarke on Exodus 5:1

John Gill on Exodus 5:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 5:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:1-2

Adam Clarke on Exodus 5:1

John Gill on Exodus 5:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 5:1-5

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 5:1-2

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 5:1-14

Rashi on Exodus 5:1