The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Moses at the Burning Bush
Exodus 3:1–22 — Moses at the Burning Bush. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·mō·šeh hā·yāh rō·‘eh ’eṯ- ṣōn ḥō·ṯə·nōw yiṯ·rōw kō·hên miḏ·yān way·yin·haḡ ’eṯ- haṣ·ṣōn ’a·ḥar ham·miḏ·bār way·yā·ḇō ’el- ḥō·rê·ḇāh har hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he drove the flock behind the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Where the English smooths the original
The years of Moses’s life are remarkably divided into three forties; the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh’s court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun. He had now finished his second forty when he received his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt. Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out to that work which of old he designed them for.
Horeb is called the Mount of God by anticipation, with reference to the consecration which it subsequently received through the revelation of God upon its summit. The supposition that it had been a holy locality even before the calling of Moses, cannot be sustained.K&D resist the popular notion of a pre-existing sanctuary — a caution Barnes and Cambridge echo against, the latter leaning the other way.
It was a very sharp descent from Pharaoh’s palace to the wilderness, and forty years of a shepherd’s life were a strange contrast to the brilliant future that once seemed likely for Moses. But God tests His weapons before He uses them, and great men are generally prepared for great deeds by great sorrows.Maclaren, 'The Bush That Burned, And Did Not Burn Out.'
keeping the sheep of his father-in-law, in which great personages have have employed, and who have afterwards been called to the kingly office, as David; and this was an emblem of his feeding and ruling the people of Israel, and in it he was an eminent type of Christ, the great shepherd and bishop of souls
2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mal·’aḵ Yah·weh way·yê·rā ’ê·lāw bə·lab·baṯ- ’êš mit·tō·wḵ has·sə·neh way·yar wə·hin·nêh has·sə·neh bō·‘êr bā·’êš wə·has·sə·neh ’ê·nen·nū ’uk·kāl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
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The angel of the Lord; not a created angel, but the Angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus, who then and ever was God, and was to be man, and to be sent into the world in our flesh, as a messenger from God.
a bush ] only besides Deuteronomy 33:16 ‘the favour of him that dwelt in the bush .’ Properly, as Aram. shews (PS. 2671; Löw, Aram. Pflanzennamen , No. 219), the bramble bush , rubus fruticosus , Linn. (so LXX. βάτος , [ Luke 6:44 ], Vulg. rubus ), which however does not seem to grow in the Sin. Peninsula.Cambridge fixes the rare lexeme seneh and its sole narrative parallel — the basis of this unit's strongest cross-reference.
the Jews commonly interpret it of the people of Israel, in the furnace of affliction in Egypt, and yet not consumed; nay, the more they were afflicted the more they grew; and it may be a symbol of the church and people of God, in all ages, under affliction and distress
Taking the whole narrative altogether, we are justified in concluding that the appearance was that of "the Angel of the Covenant" or" the Second Person of the Trinity himself;" but this is not stated nor implied in the present verse. We learn it from what follows.The Pulpit Commentary's caution: the high reading is earned by vv. 4-6, not asserted in v. 2 itself.
3So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mō·šeh way·yō·mer ’ā·su·rāh- nā wə·’er·’eh ’eṯ- haz·zeh hag·gā·ḏōl ham·mar·’eh mad·dū·a‘ has·sə·neh lō- yiḇ·‘ar
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Moses said, "Let me turn aside now and see this great sight—why the bush is not burnt up."
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I will now turn aside. —A minute touch, in dicating that Moses is the writer. He remembers that the bush did not grow on the track which he was pursuing, but lay off it, and that he had to “turn aside,” in order to make his inspection.
I will turn aside . Suspecting nothing but a natural phenomenon, which he was anxious to investigate. The action bespeaks him a man of sense and intelligence, not easily scared or imposed upon.
see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt; inquire into, and find out, if he could, the reason of this strange and amazing sight; how it could be that a bush should be on fire and yet not burnt up, which might have been expected would have been destroyed at once
4When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·yar kî sār lir·’ō·wṯ ’ĕ·lō·hîm way·yiq·rā ’ê·lāw mit·tō·wḵ has·sə·neh mō·šeh mō·šeh hin·nê·nî way·yō·mer way·yō·mer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
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When the Lord saw . . . God called. —Heb., When Jehovah saw, Elohim called. The German theory of two authors of Exodus, one Jehovistic and the other Elohistic, is completely refuted by this passage; for it is impossible to ascribe one clause of a sentence to one author, and the next to another.
He doubles the name, partly to show kindness and familiarity, and principally to make Moses more attentive to the business before him.
He saw a fire, but no human agent to kindle it; he heard a voice, but no human lips from which it came; he saw no living Being, but One was in the bush, in the heat of the flames, who knew him and addressed him by name. Who could this be but the Divine Being?
the repetition of his name not only shows familiarity and a strong vehement affection for him, but haste to stop him, that he might proceed no further; and this was done in order to stir him up to hearken to what would be said to him
5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’al- tiq·raḇ hă·lōm way·yō·mer šal- nə·‘ā·le·ḵā mê·‘al raḡ·le·ḵā kî ham·mā·qō·wm ’ă·šer ’at·tāh ‘ō·w·mêḏ ‘ā·lāw qō·ḏeš hū ’aḏ·maṯ-
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And He said, "Do not draw near here; take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
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This passage is almost conclusive against the assumption that the place was previously a sanctuary. Moses knew nothing of its holiness after some 40 years spent on the Peninsula. It became holy by the presence of God.Barnes argues from Moses' ignorance: the ground had no prior sanctity — God's presence makes it holy.
With them the removal of the shoes is a confession of personal defilement and conscious unworthiness to stand in the presence of unspotted holiness.
The awful greatness of the Creator is such that his creatures, until invited to draw near, are bound to stand aloof.
Put off thy shoes from thy feet — This is required as a token of his reverence for the Divine Majesty, then and there eminently present; of his humiliation for his sins, which rendered him unworthy to appear before God
6Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer ’ā·nō·ḵî ’ĕ·lō·hê ’ā·ḇî·ḵā ’ĕ·lō·hê ’aḇ·rā·hām ’ĕ·lō·hê yiṣ·ḥāq wê·lō·hê ya·‘ă·qōḇ mō·šeh way·yas·têr pā·nāw kî yā·rê mê·hab·bîṭ ’el- hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Where the English smooths the original
the form of the expression, “the God of Abraham,” &c., indicated the continued existence of the patriarchs after death, since He can only be the God of existent, and not of nonexistent things. (See Matthew 22:32 .) Moses hid his face, with the same feeling which made Jacob exclaim, “How dreadful is this place” ( Genesis 28:17 ).
Our Lord makes use of this text to prove the resurrection of the dead against the Sadducees, God being not the God of the dead, but of the living; Mark 12:26 . and Moses hid his face; wrapped it in his mantle or cloak, as Elijah did, 1 Kings 19:13
the God worshipped by thy father, and, it is added afterwards, by thy forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well. Moses is not to introduce to his people any previously unknown God, but the God whom their fathers had worshipped, and who, it was believed, had promised to be with, and to defend, their descendants.
God does not say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I am. The patriarchs still live, so many years after their bodies have been in the grave. No length of time can separate the souls of the just from their Maker.Henry's pastoral register on the present-tense 'I am' — the same point Ellicott and Gill argue from grammar, here drawn out as comfort: the patriarchs are alive to God.
And Moses hid his face; for he was {g} afraid to look upon God. (g) For sin causes man to fear God's justice.Geneva names the root of Moses' veiling: not mere awe but the sinner's dread of holiness.
7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·yō·mer rā·’ōh rā·’î·ṯî ’eṯ- ‘o·nî ‘am·mî ’ă·šer bə·miṣ·rā·yim wə·’eṯ- šā·ma‘·tî ṣa·‘ă·qā·ṯām mip·pə·nê nō·ḡə·śāw kî yā·ḏa‘·tî ’eṯ- maḵ·’ō·ḇāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the LORD said, "Seeing I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and their cry I have heard because of their oppressors; for I know their sorrows."
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I have surely seen. —Heb., seeing I have seen. It is not so much certainty as continued looking that is implied. (Comp. Exodus 2:25 .) Taskmasters. —A different word from that similarly translated in Exodus 1:11 , and one that implies cruel usage.
Taskmasters - Oppressors. A different word from that in Exodus 1:11 . I know - The expression implies personal feeling, tenderness, and compassion
he had long took notice of, and had thoroughly observed their affliction, and was afflicted with them in it, and was bent upon their deliverance out of it
God notices the afflictions of Israel. Their sorrows; even the secret sorrows of God's people are known to him. Their cry; God hears the cries of his afflicted people. The oppression they endured; the highest and greatest of their oppressors are not above him.Henry catalogues the verse's three verbs of divine attention — sees, hears, knows — and turns each into pastoral assurance.
8I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wā·’ê·rêḏ lə·haṣ·ṣî·lōw min- mî·yaḏ miṣ·ra·yim ū·lə·ha·‘ă·lō·ṯōw ha·hi·w hā·’ā·reṣ ’el- ṭō·w·ḇāh ū·rə·ḥā·ḇāh ’el- ’e·reṣ ’e·reṣ zā·ḇaṯ ḥā·lāḇ ū·ḏə·ḇāš ’el- mə·qō·wm hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî wə·ha·ḥit·tî wə·hā·’ĕ·mō·rî wə·hap·pə·riz·zî wə·ha·ḥiw·wî wə·hay·ḇū·sî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and broad land, to a land flowing with milk and honey—the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite."
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When God doth something very extraordinary, he is said to come down to do it, as Isaiah 64:1 . This deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ, and in that the eternal Word did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us.
The Canaanites ... - This is the first passage in this book where the enumeration, so often repeated, of the nations then in possession of Palestine, is given. Moses was to learn at once the extent of the promise, and the greatness of the enterprise.
A land flowing with milk and honey. —This expression, here used for the first time, was already, it is probable, a proverbial one, denoting generally, richness and fertility. (See Numbers 13:27 .)
To bring them up . Literally correct. Palestine is at a much higher level than Egypt.
9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘at·tāh hin·nêh ṣa·‘ă·qaṯ bə·nê- yiś·rā·’êl bā·’āh ’ê·lāy wə·ḡam- rā·’î·ṯî ’eṯ- hal·la·ḥaṣ ’ă·šer miṣ·ra·yim lō·ḥă·ṣîm ’ō·ṯām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them."
Where the English smooths the original
This is a repetition, in substance, of ver. 7, on account of the long parenthesis in ver. 8, and serves to introduce verse 10. The nexus is: "I have seen the oppression - I am come down to deliver them - come now, therefore, I will send thee"
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. (k) He heard before, but now he would avenge it.
which is repeated to observe the great notice he took of it; and the reason of his descent and appearance in this wonderful manner, as well as of the urgent necessity of Moses's going to deliver the people from their oppression.
10Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘at·tāh lə·ḵāh wə·’eš·lā·ḥă·ḵā ’el- par·‘ōh wə·hō·w·ṣê ’eṯ- ‘am·mî ḇə·nê- yiś·rā·’êl mim·miṣ·rā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring out My people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt."
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‘I will send thee’ must have come like a thunder-clap. The commander’s summons which brings a man from the rear rank and sets him in the van of a storming-party may well make its receiver shrink. It was not cowardice which prompted Moses’ answer, but lowliness.Maclaren, 'The Call of Moses' — the divine charge falls like a thunder-clap on a man emptied of his old confidence.
and conduct them through the wilderness to the land of Canaan, and so be their deliverer, guide, and governor under God, who now gave him a commission to act for him.
Considering the patriotic views that had formerly animated the breast of Moses, we might have anticipated that no mission could have been more welcome to his heart than to be employed in the national emancipation of Israel. But he evinced great reluctance to it
11But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mō·šeh way·yō·mer ’el- hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm mî ’ā·nō·ḵî kî ’ê·lêḵ ’el- par·‘ōh wə·ḵî ’ō·w·ṣî ’eṯ- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl mim·miṣ·rā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt?"
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Who am I, that I should go? —The men most fit for great missions are apt to deem themselves unfit. When God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, his reply was, “O Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child” ( Jeremiah 1:6 ).
Moses was incomparably the fittest of any man living for this work, eminent for learning, wisdom, experience, valour, faith, holiness, and yet he says, Who am I? The more fit any person is for service, the less opinion he has of himself.
Thus Moses falls into that distemper to which most men are prone, of measuring God by himself, and by the probabilities or improbabilities of second causes.
And now, taught by this lesson, and sobered by forty years of inaction, he has become timid and distrustful of himself, and shrinks from putting himself forward.
12“I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- ’eh·yeh ‘im·māḵ way·yō·mer wə·zeh- hā·’ō·wṯ lə·ḵā kî ’ā·nō·ḵî šə·laḥ·tî·ḵā hā·‘ām bə·hō·w·ṣî·’ă·ḵā ’eṯ- mim·miṣ·ra·yim ta·‘aḇ·ḏūn ’eṯ- hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm ‘al haz·zeh hā·hār
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And He said, "For I will be with you; and this is the sign for you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
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Certainly I will be with thee. —Heb., since I will be with thee. An answer addressed not to the thing said, but to the thing meant. Moses meant to urge that he was unfit for the mission. God’s reply is, “Not unfit, since I will be with thee.”
Signs indeed are commonly given from things past or present, but sometimes from things to come, as here, and 1 Samuel 2:34 Isaiah 7:13 ,14 9:6 , &c.
Those that are weak in themselves, yet may do wonders, being strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. God’s presence puts wisdom and strength into the weak and foolish, and is enough to answer all objections.
13Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mō·šeh way·yō·mer ’el- hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm hin·nêh ’ā·nō·ḵî ḇā ’el- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl wə·’ā·mar·tî lā·hem ’ĕ·lō·hê ’ă·ḇō·w·ṯê·ḵem šə·lā·ḥa·nî ’ă·lê·ḵem wə·’ā·mə·rū- lî mah- šə·mōw māh ’ō·mar ’ă·lê·hem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Moses said to God, "Behold, I am coming to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they will say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"
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The question, "What is His name?" presupposed that the name expressed the nature and operations of God, and that God would manifest in deeds the nature expressed in His name.K&D: the Name is not a label but a promise of how God will act — the key to reading v. 14.
Among the Israelites hitherto God had been known only by titles, as El or Elohim, “the Lofty One; “ Shaddai, ” the Powerful; “ Jahveh, or Jehovah, “ the Existent.” These titles were used with some perception of their meaning; no one of them had as yet passed into a proper name.
What Moses needed was not a new name, but direction to use that name which would bear in itself a pledge of accomplishment.
what name shall I use, whereby both thou mayest be distinguished from false gods, and thy people may be encouraged to expect deliverance from thee?
14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ĕ·lō·hîm way·yō·mer ’el- mō·šeh ’eh·yeh ’ă·šer ’eh·yeh kōh ṯō·mar way·yō·mer liḇ·nê yiś·rā·’êl ’eh·yeh šə·lā·ḥa·nî ’ă·lê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And God said to Moses, "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'I WILL BE has sent me to you.'"
Where the English smooths the original
It is generally assumed that this is given to Moses as the full name of God. But perhaps it is rather a deep and mysterious statement of His nature. “I am that which I am.” My nature, i.e., cannot be declared in words, cannot be conceived of by human thought. I exist in such sort that my whole inscrutable nature is implied in my existence. I exist, as nothing else does—necessarily, eternally, really.
the verb hâyâh expresses not to be essentially , but to be phaenomenally ; it corresponds to γίγνομαι not εἶναι ; it denotes, in Delitzsch’s words, not the idea of inactive, abstract existence, but the active manifestation of existence.Cambridge (with W. R. Smith and A. B. Davidson) presses 'I will be that I will be' — the Name as God's active self-disclosure in history.
Heb. I shall be what I shall be . He useth the future tense; either, 1. Because that tense in the use of the Hebrew tongue comprehends all times, past, present, and to come, to signify that all times are alike to God, and all are present to him; and therefore what is here, I shall be , is rendered, I am , by Christ, John 8:58 .
This signifies the real being of God, his self-existence, and that he is the Being of beings; as also it denotes his eternity and immutability, and his constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, for it includes all time, past, present, and to come
A name that denotes what he is in himself, I AM THAT I AM. This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, 1. That he is self-existent: he has his being of himself. 2. That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 3. That he is incomprehensible; we cannot by searching find him out: this name checks all bold and curious inquiries concerning God. 4. That he is faithful and true to all his promisesHenry's four-fold reading of the Name — self-existent, eternal, incomprehensible, faithful — holds the metaphysical (Ellicott) and the covenantal (Cambridge) senses together.
15God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ĕ·lō·hîm ‘ō·wḏ way·yō·mer ’el- mō·šeh ṯō·mar kōh- ’el- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê ’ă·ḇō·ṯê·ḵem ’ĕ·lō·hê ’aḇ·rā·hām ’ĕ·lō·hê yiṣ·ḥāq wê·lō·hê ya·‘ă·qōḇ šə·lā·ḥa·nî ’ă·lê·ḵem zeh- šə·mî lə·‘ō·lām wə·zeh ziḵ·rî lə·ḏōr dōr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And God said further to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations."
Where the English smooths the original
The “I AM” of the preceding verse ( ‘ehyeh ) is modified here into Jahveh, or Jehovah, by a substitution of the third person for the first. The meaning of the name remains the same.
שׁם, the name, expresses the objective manifestation of the divine nature; זבר, memorial, the subjective recognition of that nature on the part of men.K&D parse the name/memorial pair: God's self-showing and humanity's answering recognition.
This he adds, because God was best known to the Israelites by that name; and to show, that though he had given himself a new name, yet he was the same God.
This God will have to be his name for ever, and it has been, is, and will be his name, by which his worshippers know him, and distinguish him from all false gods.
16Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lêḵ wə·’ā·sap̄·tā ’eṯ- ziq·nê yiś·rā·’êl wə·’ā·mar·tā ’ă·lê·hem Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê ’ă·ḇō·ṯê·ḵem ’ĕ·lō·hê ’aḇ·rā·hām yiṣ·ḥāq wə·ya·‘ă·qōḇ nir·’āh ’ê·lay lê·mōr pā·qōḏ pā·qaḏ·tî ’eṯ·ḵem wə·’eṯ- he·‘ā·śui lā·ḵem bə·miṣ·rā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"Go, and gather the elders of Israel, and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: Surely I have visited you and what is being done to you in Egypt.'"
Where the English smooths the original
The elders of Israel. —Not so much the old men generally, as the rulers—those who bore authority over the rest—men of considerable age, no doubt, for the most part. Rosenmüller reasonably concludes from this direction that the Hebrews, even during the oppression, enjoyed some kind of internal organisation and native government
I have surely visited you . The words are a repetition of those used by Joseph on his deathbed ( Genesis 50:24 ), and may be taken to mean, "I have done as Joseph prophesied - I have made his words good thus far. Expect, therefore, the completion of what he promised."The Pulpit Commentary hears Joseph's dying prophecy (Gen 50:24) fulfilled in God's 'surely I have visited.'
For though they were all slaves to the Egyptians, yet among themselves they retained some order and government, and had doubtless some whom they owned as their teachers and rulers, as. heads of tribes and families, &c.
17And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wā·’ō·mar ’a·‘ă·leh ’eṯ·ḵem mê·‘o·nî miṣ·ra·yim ’el- ’e·reṣ hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî wə·ha·ḥit·tî wə·hā·’ĕ·mō·rî wə·hap·pə·riz·zî wə·ha·ḥiw·wî wə·hay·ḇū·sî ’el- ’e·reṣ zā·ḇaṯ ḥā·lāḇ ū·ḏə·ḇāš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And I have said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite—to a land flowing with milk and honey."
Where the English smooths the original
I have said. —See Exodus 3:8 . Perhaps there is also a reference to the promise made to Abraham (Gen.XV. 14). The affliction of Egypt. —Comp. Genesis 15:13 · Exodus 1:11-12 ; Exodus 3:7 .
I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt: with which they were afflicted in Egypt, and by the Egyptians; this he both purposed and promised to bring them out of
And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
18The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·šā·mə·‘ū lə·qō·le·ḵā ’at·tāh ū·ḇā·ṯā wə·ziq·nê yiś·rā·’êl ’el- me·leḵ miṣ·ra·yim wa·’ă·mar·tem ’ê·lāw Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê hā·‘iḇ·rî·yîm niq·rāh ‘ā·lê·nū wə·‘at·tāh nā nê·lă·ḵāh- šə·lō·šeṯ yā·mîm de·reḵ bam·miḏ·bār wə·niz·bə·ḥāh Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And they will listen to your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go, please, a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'"
Where the English smooths the original
The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us. —Heb., Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. Pharaoh would readily comprehend this statement. He would quite understand that the Hebrews, being of a different race from the Egyptians, had a God of their own, and that this God would from time to time give intimations to them of His will.
Moses doth not say any thing which is false, but only conceals a part of the truth; and he was not obliged to discover the whole truth to so cruel a tyrant, and so implacable an enemy.Poole defends the 'three days' request against the charge of deceit: a partial truth, lawfully withheld from a tyrant.
But it was not so. The hearts of men are in God's hands, and he disposed those of the elders to receive the message of his servant, Moses, favourably, and believe in it.
19But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wa·’ă·nî yā·ḏa‘·tî kî me·leḵ miṣ·ra·yim lō- yit·tên ’eṯ·ḵem la·hă·lōḵ wə·lō ḥă·zā·qāh bə·yāḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go—no, not by a mighty hand."
Where the English smooths the original
I am sure. —Heb., I know, which is more suitable, since it is God who speaks, and to Him the future is known with as absolute a certainty as the past. No, not by a mighty hand. —Rather, not even under a mighty hand
No, not by a mighty hand . Or "not even by a mighty hand." Pharaoh will not be willing to let you go even when my mighty hand is laid upon him.The Pulpit Commentary takes the clause as 'not even by a mighty hand' — Pharaoh resists even under judgment; it rejects the 'but by strong hand' marginal as ungrammatical.
Nor did he let them go till he could hold them no longer, till the fear of his own life, and the clamours of his people, forced him to give way to it. And yet after that he repents of his permission, and laboured to bring them back again.
20So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·šā·laḥ·tî ’eṯ- yā·ḏî wə·hik·kê·ṯî ’eṯ- miṣ·ra·yim bə·ḵōl nip̄·lə·’ō·ṯay ’ă·šer ’e·‘ĕ·śeh bə·qir·bōw wə·’a·ḥă·rê- ḵên yə·šal·laḥ ’eṯ·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders that I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go."
Where the English smooths the original
I will stretch out my hand. —Hands are stretched out to help and save. God promises here more than He had promised before ( Exodus 3:12 ). He shows how He will “be with” Moses. He will lend him miraculous aid, performing in his behalf “all his wonders,” and with them “smiting the Egyptians.”
It is a confirmation, and to some extent, an explanation of the pledge, already, given, "Certainly I will be with thee" (ver. 12). It shows how God would be with him - he would smite Egypt with all his wonders
and after that he will let you go; this is said for their encouragement, that their faith and patience might hold out, who otherwise seeing him so obstinate and inflexible, might be ready to despair of ever succeeding.
21And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·nā·ṯat·tî ’eṯ- haz·zeh hā·‘ām- ḥên bə·‘ê·nê miṣ·rā·yim wə·hā·yāh kî ṯê·lê·ḵūn lō ṯê·lə·ḵū rê·qām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and it will come to pass that when you go, you will not go empty."
Where the English smooths the original
it shall come to pass, that when ye go, ye shall not go empty; destitute of what was necessary for them, but even with great substance, as was foretold by Abraham they should, and which prophecy was now about to be fulfilled, Genesis 15:14 .
I will give this people favour, so that they shall readily grant what the Israelites desire. See Exodus 12:36 .
And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.
No fraud, no deceit, was to be practised - the Egyptians perfectly well understood that, if the Israelites once went, they would never voluntarily return - they were asked to give and they gave - with the result that Egypt was "spoiled." Divine justice sees in this a rightful nemesis.The Pulpit Commentary (on vv. 21-22) answers the long charge of 'fraud and theft': a freely-given gift, and a divine nemesis for centuries of unpaid bondage.
22Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’iš·šāh wə·šā·’ă·lāh miš·šə·ḵen·tāh ū·mig·gā·raṯ bê·ṯāh ḵe·sep̄ ū·ḵə·lê zā·hāḇ kə·lê- ū·śə·mā·lōṯ wə·śam·tem ‘al- bə·nê·ḵem wə·‘al- bə·nō·ṯê·ḵem wə·niṣ·ṣal·tem ’eṯ- miṣ·rā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"But each woman shall ask of her neighbor and of the woman staying in her house articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, and so you shall plunder the Egyptians."
Where the English smooths the original
Every woman shall borrow. —Rather, shall ask ( αἰτήσει , LXX.; postulabit, Vulg.). That there was really no pretence of “borrowing,” appears from Exodus 12:33-36 , where we find that the “jewels” were not asked for until the very moment of departure
Of her neighbours. The intermixture to some extent of the Egyptians with the Hebrews in Goshen is here again implied, as in chs. 1. and 2. And of her that sojourneth in her house. Some of the Israelites, it would seem, took in Egyptian lodgers superior to them in wealth and rank.The Pulpit Commentary on v. 22: the mingled neighborhoods that made the asking natural — Egyptian lodgers among Hebrew households.
Jewels - Chiefly, trinkets. These ornaments were actually applied to the purpose for which they were probably demanded, being employed in making the vessels of the sanctuary (compare Exodus 35:22 ).
This example may not be followed generally: though at God's commandment they did it justly, receiving some recompence for their labours.Geneva flags the spoiling as a singular, divinely-commanded act — just, but not a precedent.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens far from any palace. Benson fixes the rhythm of the whole life — "the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh's court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the third a king in Jeshurun" — and notes the patience of God: "Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out to that work which of old he designed them for." Maclaren reads the wilderness itself as preparation: "God tests His weapons before He uses them, and great men are generally prepared for great deeds by great sorrows." Matthew Henry hears the lesson of the shepherding years devotionally — the obscure trade taught "meekness and contentment, for which he is more noted in sacred writ, than for all his learning" — and adds the maxim the scene seems built to prove: "Satan loves to find us idle; God is pleased when he finds us employed. Being alone, is a good friend to our communion with God." Into that solitude breaks the sign. The Hebrew is precise: the bush was burning (bō‘êr, v. 2) yet would not burn up (yiḇ‘ar, v. 3) — one root pressed into paradox. On its meaning the voices divide, and the division matters. The dominant ancient reading, voiced by Gill, is ecclesial: "the Jews commonly interpret it of the people of Israel, in the furnace of affliction in Egypt, and yet not consumed." Maclaren dissents — the symbol teaches "not something about God's Church... but what is a great deal more important, something about God Himself": the fire that burns without consuming is the Being "whose being derives its law and its source from Himself." Both readings are offered here as the recorded human commentary; the choice between them is the reader's.
The verse that calls Moses also exposes the seam scholars have quarried for two centuries: "When Jehovah saw... Elohim called" (v. 4). Ellicott and the Pulpit Commentary both turn the seam into an argument against splitting the text by divine names — "it is impossible to ascribe one clause of a sentence to one author, and the next to another." The doubled name Mōšeh Mōšeh is, Cambridge observes, the formula of "Abraham, Abraham" and "Jacob, Jacob"; Poole hears in it both "kindness and familiarity" and the urgency "to make Moses more attentive." Then the command to unsandal, and the reason: "holy ground" — ’admat-qōdeš, "ground of holiness." Barnes draws the conclusion the grammar invites: "This passage is almost conclusive against the assumption that the place was previously a sanctuary... It became holy by the presence of God." The self-naming follows — "the God of your father" (singular, but collective: Ellicott, Cambridge) — and on its form Ellicott builds the resurrection argument our Lord will press: "He can only be the God of existent, and not of nonexistent things." Moses' Hiphil veiling of his face (Gill: "wrapped it in his mantle... as Elijah did") is the unit's first answer to the holy: fear.
The theophany turns outward to Egypt, and the Hebrew piles up verbs of attentive compassion. "Seeing I have seen" (v. 7) is, Ellicott insists, "not so much certainty as continued looking" — God has been watching all along. The verb "I know" their sorrows (yāda‘) "implies personal feeling, tenderness, and compassion" (Barnes). And then the great anthropomorphism: "I am come down" (wā’êrêd, v. 8). Benson reaches at once for its New-Testament fulfillment — "This deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ, and in that the eternal Word did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us." The promised land arrives in two fixed formulae the rest of Scripture will repeat: "flowing with milk and honey" — "here used for the first time" but "already... a proverbial one" (Ellicott) — and the six-nation roll, which Barnes marks as "the first passage in this book where the enumeration, so often repeated... is given." The Verifier records that very roll standing again in Deuteronomy 7:1, Exodus 13:5, and Joshua 3:10 — the inventory of the land's dispossession (see Threads). All of it converges on a single imperative: "and now, go" (v. 10), the seeing and coming-down of God landing on one reluctant man.
The center of the unit, and arguably of the Pentateuch. Moses' "Who am I" (v. 11) takes the very pronoun ’ānōkî God used of Himself in v. 6 and makes it small. Benson: "The more fit any person is for service, the less opinion he has of himself"; Poole diagnoses the deeper fault — "measuring God by himself, and by the probabilities... of second causes." God's reply does not flatter Moses but removes him from the equation: "since I will be with thee" (Ellicott) — and the verb of the promise, ’ehyeh ("I will be"), is the very word that will become the Name three verses on. When Moses asks for the Name (v. 13), Keil & Delitzsch explain what is really being asked: the question "presupposed that the name expressed the nature and operations of God, and that God would manifest in deeds the nature expressed in His name." The answer, ’ehyeh ’ăsher ’ehyeh (v. 14), Ellicott calls "a deep and mysterious statement of His nature" — "I exist, as nothing else does — necessarily, eternally, really"; Cambridge, weighing the Hebrew verb, presses the active sense — hâyâh "denotes... not the idea of inactive, abstract existence, but the active manifestation of existence" — "I will be that I will be." Poole hears the future tense reaching to the Incarnation: "what is here, I shall be, is rendered, I am, by Christ, John 8:58." In v. 15 the first-person Name becomes third-person Yhwh (Ellicott: "by a substitution of the third person for the first"), and is sealed as "name" and "memorial" — which K&D distinguish: "the name expresses the objective manifestation of the divine nature; zēker, memorial, the subjective recognition of that nature on the part of men."
Now the abstract call becomes a concrete itinerary. Moses is to gather "the elders" — not the merely aged but, as Ellicott and Poole agree, the rulers, proof that "the Hebrews, even during the oppression, enjoyed some kind of internal organisation." The message he carries — "surely I have visited you" (v. 16) — deliberately echoes Joseph's deathbed prophecy (Gen 50:24): "I have done as Joseph prophesied — I have made his words good thus far" (Pulpit Commentary). God foreknows the resistance: the elders will hear (v. 18; fulfilled at 4:31), but Pharaoh will not — "not even by a mighty hand" (Pulpit Commentary, on the verse's grammatical crux). The modest first request, a three-day journey to sacrifice, draws the old charge of deceit, which Poole answers squarely: "Moses doth not say any thing which is false, but only conceals a part of the truth." Finally the spoil. The KJV's "borrow" (v. 22) is a mistranslation — the verb is "ask" (Ellicott, Benson: "not borrow") — and the Pulpit Commentary turns back the centuries of "fraud and theft" charges: "they were asked to give and they gave... Divine justice sees in this a rightful nemesis." Barnes adds the redemptive turn: those very vessels of silver and gold were later "employed in making the vessels of the sanctuary" — Egypt's wealth becomes the LORD's tabernacle.
⚙ Read under Sola Scriptura, and tested by it: this chapter answers a question no human strength can answer. Moses asks twice, and both questions are about identity — first his own ("Who am I?" v. 11), then God's ("What is His name?" v. 13). God refuses to answer the first and overwhelms the second. To "Who am I" He gives no résumé, only a Presence: "I will be with you" — the same verb, ’ehyeh, that He will then unfold as His Name. The man's emptiness is not filled with competence but with companionship; the call rests entirely on the Caller. And the Name itself, ’ehyeh ’ăsher ’ehyeh, is the one self-definition that defines by nothing outside itself — God predicated only on God. Everything else in the unit hangs from this staple (to borrow Maclaren's image): the fire burns and is not spent because the One in it is underived; the bondage will end because the One who sees, hears, knows, and comes down is bound by no power but His own faithfulness; the slaves will go out laden because the God who says a thing has, in saying it, as good as done it. The burning bush is the doctrine of God in a thornbush: self-existent, self-giving, and unconsumed. This is a fallible reading, offered to be weighed against the text.
⚙ A fallible line, not a verse of Scripture: God answers "Who am I?" not with a man's qualifications but with His own Name — the call rests wholly on the Caller, and the bush burns unconsumed because the One in the fire is underived.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The strongest verbal seam in the unit. The word for the bush, H5572 çᵉneh ("bramble"), is genuinely rare — it occurs in only four verses of the entire Hebrew Bible, and the single narrative parallel is Moses' own dying blessing of Joseph: "the good will of him that dwelt in the bush" (Deut 33:16). Cambridge records the link directly at v. 2: "a bush] only besides Deuteronomy 33:16," and Gill notes "reference is frequently had to it as a matter of fact, Deuteronomy 33:16." Because çᵉneh is so rare and the second occurrence is a deliberate backward glance at this theophany, the Verifier returns this as a verbal link, not a coincidence: the One who appeared in the seneh at Moses' commissioning is named, forty years later, as the abiding favor resting on Joseph's house.
Exodus 3:2 · Deuteronomy 33:16
basis: shared rare Strong's lexeme H5572 çᵉneh — only 4 occurrences in all of Scripture; Deuteronomy 33:16 is the sole narrative back-reference to the burning bush. Verifier-computed. Rarity warrants 'verbal'.
The roll of dispossessed peoples in vv. 8 and 17 — Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite — is, Barnes notes, "the first passage in this book where the enumeration, so often repeated... is given." That same cluster of gentilic lexemes recurs as a fixed covenant formula: the Verifier ties this unit to Deuteronomy 7:1 (sharing H6522 Pᵉrizzîy, H2340 Chivvîy, H2983 Yᵉbûwçîy, H2850 Chittîy), to Exodus 13:5 (sharing H2983 Yᵉbûwçîy, H2461 châlâb, with the "milk and honey" verb H2100 zûwb), and to Joshua 3:10 (the same nations as the Jordan is crossed to take the land). The shared lexemes are mostly proper-name gentilics of moderate frequency (Pᵉrizzîy in 23 vv, Yᵉbûwçîy in 39 vv), so this is a structural/thematic formula — the land's inhabitants recited as a stock list — rather than a rare quotation. The thread runs from promise (Exodus 3) through statute (Deut 7) to fulfillment (Josh 3).
Exodus 3:8 · Exodus 3:17 · Deuteronomy 7:1 · Exodus 13:5 · Joshua 3:10
basis: shared gentilic-list lexemes H6522 Pᵉrizzîy (23 vv), H2340 Chivvîy (25 vv), H2983 Yᵉbûwçîy (39 vv), H2850 Chittîy (47 vv), H3669 Kᵉnaʻanîy (71 vv), plus H2461 châlâb / H2100 zûwb at Exod 13:5; Verifier-computed. A recurring covenant formula, not a rare quotation — hence structural, not verbal.
The rare imperative H5394 nâshal ("to pluck/draw off"), used at v. 5 for removing the sandals on holy ground, occurs in only 7 verses of the whole Hebrew Bible — and recurs near-verbatim when the captain of the LORD's host meets Joshua: "Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy" (Josh 5:15). The Verifier computes the pair as a verbal link, returning not one but two pointed shared lexemes — nâshal (7 vv) and H5275 naʻal ("sandal," 22 vv) — alongside maqom, regel, qodesh and the participle ʻomed ("standing"): the two holy-ground sayings share their whole vocabulary, not merely a theme. Cambridge records the parallel at v. 5 ("Cf. Joshua 5:15"), and the Pulpit Commentary states it plainly: "The command given to Moses at this time was repeated to Joshua (Joshua 5:15)." Both are Hebrew narrative, provenance secure, so the rare-lexeme quotation stands as verbal: the holy-ground encounter that launches Moses' mission is replayed, almost word for word, to launch the conquest under his successor.
Exodus 3:5 · Joshua 5:15
basis: Verifier-computed: rare shared lexeme H5394 nâshal (only 7 vv) plus H5275 naʻal (22 vv) and the full holy-ground cluster (maqom, regel, qodesh, ʻomed); the sandal-command is reused near-verbatim at Joshua 5:15. Rarity of nâshal + the multi-word overlap warrants 'verbal.' Both Hebrew narrative; Cambridge and Pulpit both record the parallel.
In v. 16 God's message to the elders opens, "visiting I have visited you" (the emphatic infinitive-absolute of H6485 pâqad). The Pulpit Commentary hears a deliberate fulfillment: "The words are a repetition of those used by Joseph on his deathbed (Genesis 50:24)... 'I have done as Joseph prophesied — I have made his words good thus far.'" Joseph had said, "God will surely visit you (pāqōd yipqōd), and bring you out of this land" — the same doubled verb. Run on the pair, the Verifier confirms the seam as structural: the two verses share pâqad together with the three patriarch-names (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) — but pâqad is a common verb (269 vv), so the link is a motif of covenant remembrance, not a rare quotation. The tier is held structural for that reason, and named as such: God making good Joseph's dying word across four centuries.
Exodus 3:16 · Genesis 50:24
basis: Verifier-computed: shared verb H6485 pâqad (269 vv) — in v. 16 the emphatic infinitive-absolute "surely visit" — plus the patriarch-names H85/H3327/H3290. pâqad is common, so this is a recurring covenant-remembrance motif (Pulpit Commentary records the deliberate echo of Gen 50:24), not a rare verbal quotation: structural, not verbal.
Poole and Gill both read v. 14 forward into the mouth of Christ. Poole: "what is here, I shall be, is rendered, I am, by Christ, John 8:58"; Gill: "Our Lord seems to refer to this name, John 8:58." The connection is real and ancient, but it cannot be a Strong's-verbal link: Exodus 3:14 is Hebrew (’ehyeh) and John 8:58 is Greek (ἐγὼ εἰμί), and the Verifier accordingly returns no shared original-language lexeme — cross-Testament links cannot use shared Strong's numbers. The bridge runs through the Septuagint's ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, which both Cambridge ("LXX. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν") and the Pulpit Commentary cite; it is a typological/theological identification, not a lexical one, and is flagged here for that reason rather than asserted as "verbal."
Exodus 3:14 · John 8:58
basis: cross-Testament (Hebrew ’ehyeh ↔ Greek ἐγὼ εἰμί): Verifier returns no shared Strong's lexeme — such a link cannot exist across languages. The connection is real but mediated by the LXX and is theological/typological, not lexical; flagged so the basis is argued, not claimed as a verbal match.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The reading is unanimous among the human voices here. Poole: the Angel of the LORD is "not a created angel, but the Angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus, who then and ever was God, and was to be man." Benson: "the Angel of the covenant, Christ... termed the Angel of God's presence (Isaiah 63:9)." JFB names Him "the angel of the covenant, Jehovah-Jesus"; Gill: "the eternal Word and Son of God; since he is afterwards expressly called Jehovah." Their argument is internal to the text: the mal’ak of v. 2 speaks in v. 6 as "I am the God of Abraham" — language (Poole) "the angels never speak." The identification is offered as the widely-held historic reading; the more cautious Pulpit Commentary grants it but warns it is earned by vv. 4-6, not by v. 2 alone. This is a Christological reading of the Old Testament theophany, ancient and broadly attested, not a claim the Verifier can confirm.
Exodus 3:2 · Exodus 3:6
The Name of v. 14 is taken up by Christ in John's Gospel — "Before Abraham was born, I AM" (John 8:58), and the absolute ἐγὼ εἰμί sayings throughout. Gill: the Name "may be rendered, 'I shall be what I shall be,' the incarnate God, God manifest in the flesh... Our Lord seems to refer to this name, John 8:58, and indeed is the person that now appeared." Poole reads the future tense itself as a veiled gesture toward the Incarnation: "I shall be what I shall be, i.e. God-man." The Revelation's title "who is, and who was, and who is to come" (which Ellicott and the Pulpit Commentary both cite at v. 15) is the same Name in apocalyptic dress, now applied to the exalted Lamb. The identification of the Exodus "I AM" with Jesus is ancient and central to Johannine Christology — but, being cross-Testament (Hebrew ↔ Greek), it is a theological/typological reading, not a Strong's-verbal one (see the flagged thread).
Exodus 3:14 · John 8:58 · Revelation 1:8
Benson draws the type explicitly at v. 8: "This deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ, and in that the eternal Word did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us." Gill echoes it: "so Christ in our nature came down from heaven to earth, to save his spiritual Israel out of the hands of all their enemies." The Exodus pattern — God seeing affliction, coming down, and bringing His people up to an inheritance — is read across the church as the shadow of which the Incarnation and redemption are the substance; the very verb "come down" (yārad) anticipates the One who "came down from heaven" (John 6:38). This is a typological reading, widely held in the tradition, offered as such and not as a lexical link.
Exodus 3:8 · Exodus 3:10
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit's safest seams are the rare Hebrew lexemes the Verifier could weigh: H5572 çᵉneh (the bush, only 4 vv) ties Exodus 3:2 verbally to Deuteronomy 33:16, and H5394 nâshal (draw off the sandal, only 7 vv) ties 3:5 to Joshua 5:15. The recurring six-nation roll (3:8, 3:17) is real but is a formula, not a quotation — its shared lexemes are moderate-frequency gentilics, so it is tiered structural, not verbal, against any temptation to over-claim. Two cross-references are held cross-Testament and argued, not asserted: the identification of ’ehyeh (3:14) with Jesus' ἐγὼ εἰμί (John 8:58) crosses from Hebrew to Greek, where no shared Strong's number can exist — the Verifier returns no shared original-language lexeme, and the link is therefore flagged and carried only as a theological/typological reading mediated by the Septuagint. The Joseph-prophecy echo (3:16 → Gen 50:24) the Verifier does confirm as structural — shared H6485 pâqad plus the patriarch-names — but pâqad is a common verb (269 vv), so it is tiered structural (a covenant-remembrance motif recorded by the Pulpit Commentary), never verbal. On the divine-name interchange in 3:4 (Jehovah saw / Elohim called) the conservative commentators read one author's free usage; the documentary alternative is named in the literal/divergence notes and left to the reader. Every voice above is a verbatim contiguous excerpt from the supplied public-domain commentary; the ⚙ machine layer (literal, divergences, notes, movements, sola reading, thread bodies, badges) is fallible synthesis, offered to be tested against the text.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)