Hebrews 11:27

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
faith	Πίστει Pistei	G4102	persuasion · noun — dative singular feminine
forsook	κατέλιπεν katelipen	G2641	to leave down · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
Egypt	Αἴγυπτον Aigupton	G125	Ægyptus · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
not	μὴ mē	G3361	(adverb) not · particle — negative
fearing	φοβηθεὶς phobētheis	G5399	to frighten · verb — aorist passive deponent participle, nominative singular masculine
wrath	θυμὸν thumon	G2372	passion (as if breathing hard) · noun — accusative singular masculine
king	βασιλέως· basileōs	G935	a sovereign (abstractly · noun — genitive singular masculine
for	γὰρ gar	G1063	properly · conjunction
endured	ἐκαρτέρησεν.¶ ekarterēsen	G2594	to be strong · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
as	ὡς hōs	G5613	which how · particle
seeing	ὁρῶν horōn	G3708	by extension · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
invisible	ἀόρατον aoraton	G517	invisible · adjective — accusative singular masculine

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

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the th…
Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and…
Exodus 2:14-15 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and sai…
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Exodus 4:19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
Exodus 10:28-29 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.
Exodus 14:10-13 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore a…
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pit…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:4-31

The apostle, having given us a more general account of the grace of faith, now proceeds to set before us some illustrious examples of it in the Old Testament times, and these may be divided into two classes: - 1. Those whose names are mentioned, and the particular exercise and actings of whose faith are specified. 2. Those whose names are barely mentioned, and an account given in general of the exploits of their faith, which it is left to the reader to accommodate, and apply to the particular persons from what he gathers up in the sacred story. We have here those whose names are not only mentioned, but the particular trials and actings of their faith are subjoined. I. The leading instance an…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hebrews 11:27

not fearing the wrath of the king--But in Exo 2:14 it is said, "Moses feared, and fled from the face of Pharaoh." He was afraid, and fled from the danger where no duty called him to stay (to have stayed without call of duty would have been to tempt Providence, and to sacrifice his hope of being Israel's future deliverer according to the divine intimations; his great aim, see on Heb 11:23). He did not fear the king so as to neglect his duty and not return when God called him. It was in spite of the king's prohibition he left Egypt, not fearing the consequences which were likely to overtake him if he should be caught, after having, in defiance of the king, left Egypt. If he had stayed and resu…

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Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:27

He forsook Egypt - He believed that God would fulfill the promise he had made; and he cheerfully changed an earthly for a heavenly portion. Not fearing the wrath of the king - The apostle speaks here of the departure of Moses with the Israelites, not of his flight to Midian, Exo 2:14, Exo 2:15; for he was then in great fear: but when he went to Pharaoh with God's authority, to demand the dismission of the Hebrews, he was without fear, and acted in the most noble and dignified manner; he then feared nothing but God. As seeing him who is invisible - He continued to act as one who had the judge of his heart and conduct always before his eyes. By calling the Divine Being the invisible, the apost…

The Church Fathers

And that he was not afraid that the anger would be so great as to seek him out after he had fled. Therefore, he did not flee far, but from neighboring places. And this was a matter of faith.
— Oecumenius, The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews

"for he endured as seeing him who is invisible." He saw God, who is invisible, as if he had seen Him with physical eyes. However, he saw Him with the eyes of the mind, and he bravely endured everything, namely the hardships along with the people of God, flight, and all other things. For the sake of great patience, it is important to have God in mind.
— Oecumenius, The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews

"By faith, he left Egypt." He went out by faith, so as not to test God whether He saves. And not to test Him was by faith. For believing, he would come and bring out the people. "not fearing the wrath of the king." And yet, in the Exodus, it is said that he was afraid. But there is nothing contradictory. For he was not afraid to such an extent, but returned again. For he was afraid that he would not return to Egypt anymore. Therefore, the phrase "not fearing the wrath of the king" implies the understanding of returning again. The first time he was afraid, not of the king, but not wanting to throw himself into imminent danger. For this was a test of faith in God.
— Oecumenius, The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews

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

Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Egypt · History of Israel in: Date of the Exodus — History of Israel in: Date of the Exodus
Faith · 10:20;14:32;26:3;30:15;57:13; — 10:20;14:32;26:3;30:15;57:13;
Zeal, Religious · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

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).

Hebrews 11:27

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:4-31

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hebrews 11:27

Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:27

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Hebrews 11:27

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:4-31

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hebrews 11:27

Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:27

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Hebrews 11:27

John Calvin on Hebrews 11:23-27

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Hebrews 11:27