Exodus 5:3

And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ vai.Yo.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
God	אֱלֹהֵ֥י 'e.lo.Hei	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
Hebrews	הָעִבְרִ֖ים ha.'iv.Rim	H5680	an Eberite (i.e. Hebrew) or descendant of Eber · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
met	נִקְרָ֣א nik.Ra'	H7122	to encounter · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
go	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
three	שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת she.Lo.shet	H7969	three · cardinal number, both genders singular construct
days’	יָמִ֜ים ya.Mim	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
journey	דֶּרֶךְ֩ de.reKh	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct
desert	בַּמִּדְבָּ֗ר ba.mid.Bar	H4057	a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sacrifice	וְנִזְבְּחָה֙ ve.niz.be.Chah	H2076	to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice) · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common plural
LORD	לַֽיהוָ֣ה la.Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
God	אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ 'e.lo.Hei.nu	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
fall	יִפְגָּעֵ֔נוּ yif.ga.'E.nu	H6293	to impinge · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
pestilence	בַּדֶּ֖בֶר ba.De.ver	H1698	a pestilence · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sword	בֶחָֽרֶב ve.Cha.rev	H2719	drought · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine 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 3:18 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,…
Deuteronomy 28:21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
2 Kings 17:25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew…
2 Chronicles 30:8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified…
Ezra 7:23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath ag…
Zechariah 14:16-19 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to…
Ezekiel 6:11 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel!…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:3-9

Finding that Pharaoh had no veneration at all for God, Moses and Aaron next try whether he had any compassion for Israel, and become humble suitors to him for leave to go and sacrifice, but in vain. I. Their request is very humble and modest, Exo 5:3. They make no complaint of the rigour they were ruled with. They plead that the journey they designed was not a project formed among themselves, but that their God had met with them, and called them to it. They beg with all submission: We pray thee. The poor useth entreaties; though God may summon princes that oppress, it becomes us to beseech and make supplication to them. What they ask is very reasonable, only for a short vacation, while they…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 5:3

The God of the Hebrews hath met with us--Instead of being provoked into reproaches or threats, they mildly assured him that it was not a proposal originating among themselves, but a duty enjoined on them by their God. They had for a long series of years been debarred from the privilege of religious worship, and as there was reason to fear that a continued neglect of divine ordinances would draw down upon them the judgments of offended heaven, they begged permission to go three days' journey into the desert--a place of seclusion--where their sacrificial observances would neither suffer interruption nor give umbrage to the Egyptians. In saying this, they concealed their ultimate design of aban…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 5:3

Three days' journey - The distance from Goshen to Sinai; see Exo 3:18. And sacrifice unto the Lord - Great stress is laid on this circumstance. God required sacrifice; no religious acts which they performed could be acceptable to him without this. He had now showed them that it was their indispensable duty thus to worship him, and that if they did not they might expect him to send the pestilence - some plague or death proceeding immediately from himself, or the sword - extermination by the hands of an enemy. The original word דבר deber, from בדר dabar, to drive off, draw under, etc., which we translate pestilence from the Latin pestis, the plague, signifies any kind of disease by which an ex…

Dictionary and topics

Jew — The name derived from the patriarch Judah, at first given to one belonging to the tribe of Judah or to the separate kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 16:6; 25:25; Jer. 32:12; 38:19; 40:11; 41:3), in…
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
Deserts · Vast barren plains — Vast barren plains
Egypt · History of Israel in: Pharaoh increases their affliction — History of Israel in: Pharaoh increases their affliction
Sacrifices · Were offered: After the departure of Israel from Egypt — Were offered: After the departure of Israel from Egypt

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 5:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:3-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 5:3

Adam Clarke on Exodus 5:3

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 5:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:3-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 5:3

Adam Clarke on Exodus 5:3

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Exodus 5:3

John Calvin on Exodus 5:1-5

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 5:3

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 5:3

Rashi on Exodus 5:3