Exodus2:23–25

The groaning God hears here → His own word when He commissions Moses (Exodus 6:5) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The strongest seam in the unit. The rare noun H5009 n^e’âqâh ("groaning") appears in only four verses of the whole Hebrew Bible — and here at Exodus 2:24 God "heard their n^e’âqâh," while at Exodus 6:5 God says "I have heard the n^e’âqâh of the sons of Israel... and I have remembered my covenant." The Verifier records the shared rare lexeme H5009 alongside H2142 zākar (remember, 223 vv), H1285 b^erîyth (covenant, 264 vv), and H8085 shāma‘ (hear, 1072 vv) — the same four-word cluster (groan / hear / remember / covenant) standing in both verses. Because n^e’âqâh is genuinely rare and the entire phrase recurs, this is a verbal link: the narrator's report in 2:24 is taken up word-for-word onto God's own lips in 6:5. Cambridge marks it directly: "their groaning] Exodus 6:5 a (P)."

Exodus 2:24 · Exodus 6:5

basis: shared rare Strong's lexeme H5009 n^e’âqâh — only 4 occurrences in Scripture — reused from the 2:24 narration onto God's own lips in 6:5, with the matching cluster H8085 shāma‘ + H2142 zākar + H1285 b^erîyth; Verifier-computed. Rarity of n^e’âqâh warrants 'verbal'.

The same rare groaning → the mortally wounded of Judges and Ezekiel structural / thematic — confirmed

The rare noun H5009 n^e’âqâh recurs in the only two remaining verses that hold it: Judges 2:18 (the LORD "was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them") and Ezekiel 30:24 ("he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man"). The Verifier records H5009 as the single shared lexeme in each pair. The word is genuinely scarce (4 vv total), but no verse here quotes another — there is no citation, only a shared rare word carrying a shared sense: the deep groan of the oppressed and the mortally wounded. We therefore hold this at structural/thematic rather than dressing a vocabulary-kinship as a quotation. Judges 2:18 is the most telling kin: there too God hears the groan and is moved to pity — the same divine reflex Exodus 2:24-25 narrates, recorded by Scripture's rarest word for anguish.

Exodus 2:24 · Judges 2:18 · Ezekiel 30:24

basis: shared rare Strong's lexeme H5009 n^e’âqâh — only 4 occurrences in all Scripture; Verifier-computed. The rarity is striking, but no verse cites another: the link is shared rare vocabulary and a shared motif (the oppressed's groan that moves God to pity), not a quotation — so held structural, not verbal.

Their cry for help ascending to God → the lament-Psalms' cry (shav‘âh) structural / thematic — confirmed

The noun for Israel's "cry for help," H7775 shav‘âh (Exodus 2:23), is moderately rare (11 verses) and is the proper word of the lament-Psalms: "my cry came before him, into his ears" (Ps 18:6); "his ears are open unto their cry" (Ps 34:15); "he also will hear their cry" (Ps 145:19); and outside the Psalter, 1 Samuel 5:12 — which Cambridge cross-references at this very verse: "their cry for help came up, &c.] cf. 1 Samuel 5:12 Heb." The Verifier records H7775 as the shared lexeme across each pair. At eleven occurrences the word is moderately rare, not vanishingly so, and no verse quotes another — so we under-claim and hold this structural rather than verbal. The kinship is thematically exact: in every case the shav‘âh rises and God's ears are open to it, so that Exodus 2:23 reads as narrative lament — the same cry the Psalms will set to music. Cambridge's own cross-reference to 1 Samuel 5:12 confirms the link is recognized in the standard apparatus, not invented here.

Exodus 2:23 · Psalm 18:6 · Psalm 34:15 · Psalm 145:19 · 1 Samuel 5:12

basis: shared Strong's lexeme H7775 shav‘âh — only 11 occurrences, the lament-Psalms' word for 'cry for help'; Verifier-computed. Moderately rare (not rare enough to claim quotation) and no verse cites another: the link is shared vocabulary plus the cry-rises-and-is-heard motif, so held structural. Cambridge itself cross-references 1 Sam 5:12 Heb. at Exod 2:23.

The sigh of v.23 → the prophet bidden to sigh (’ānaḥ) structural / thematic — confirmed

The first verb of Israel's distress, H584 ’ānaḥ ("to sigh / groan," Niphal), is moderately rare (12 verses). The Verifier records it shared with Ezekiel 21:6-7, where the prophet is commanded to sigh as a sign — "Sigh therefore, son of man... for the tidings" — and with Joel 1:18 ("how do the beasts groan!"). Since ’ānaḥ is the only weighted shared word, occurs a dozen times rather than a handful, and no verse cites another, we under-claim and hold this structural/thematic: the same bodily, involuntary heaving names Israel's bondage-sigh in Exodus and the prophet's sign-sigh of coming judgment in Ezekiel. The kinship is shared vocabulary for inward groaning, not a quotation.

Exodus 2:23 · Ezekiel 21:6 · Joel 1:18

basis: shared Strong's lexeme H584 ’ānaḥ — only 12 occurrences; Verifier-computed. Moderately rare and no verse cites another, so held structural rather than verbal; the shared sense is inward bodily groaning/sighing, not a citation of Exodus.

God remembered His covenant → the deliverance-formula of Genesis (zākar) structural / thematic — confirmed

The verb H2142 zākar ("remembered," Exodus 2:24) is common (223 vv), so this is a structural/thematic link, not a verbal one — but the pattern is unmistakable. Cambridge cross-references the deliverance-formula: "and God remembered] cf. Exodus 6:5 b; also Genesis 8:1; Genesis 19:29." In Genesis 8:1 "God remembered Noah" and the flood begins to recede; in Genesis 19:29 "God remembered Abraham" and Lot is pulled from Sodom; here "God remembered His covenant" and the Exodus begins. In each case the same verb is the narrative pivot from judgment-endured to rescue-begun. The shared word is common, so the badge is thematic; the link is the recurring formula of divine remembrance as the threshold of deliverance, argued by Cambridge from the text.

Exodus 2:24 · Genesis 8:1 · Genesis 19:29

basis: shared Strong's lexeme H2142 zākar (223 vv) — common, so thematic not verbal; the link is the recurring 'and God remembered' deliverance-formula (Gen 8:1, 19:29, Exod 6:5b), cross-referenced by Cambridge at this verse, not asserted from rarity.

God remembered His covenant → Zechariah's song at the dawn of the Gospel (Luke 1:72) structural / thematic — confirmed

Zechariah's prophecy opens the New Testament's account of redemption with the language of Exodus 2:24: God acts "to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham" (Luke 1:72-73). Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link — Greek New Testament to Hebrew Old Testament — so no shared Strong's number can exist, and the Verifier returns no shared original-language lexeme across the language barrier. The connection is conceptual and verbal-in-translation: Luke deliberately frames the coming of Christ as God again "remembering the covenant" sworn to Abraham, the very covenant remembered in Exodus 2:24. It is tiered structural/thematic and argued from Luke's text, not asserted from the index.

Exodus 2:24 · Luke 1:72

basis: cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible; the Verifier returns no shared lexeme. Luke 1:72 echoes Exod 2:24's covenant-remembrance to Abraham as the frame for Christ's coming — a real link argued from the Greek text, not provable from the index.

The cry that comes up to God → the wages-cry that reached the Lord of Hosts (James 5:4) flagged — verify source

Barnes himself appends the link at this verse: the divine name ’Elōhîm is "that under which the covenant had been ratified with the Patriarchs (compare James 5:4)." James 5:4 says the withheld wages of the harvesters "crieth," and "the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts" — the same picture as Exodus 2:23, the oppressed's cry rising into God's ears. Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link (Greek Epistle to Hebrew narrative), so the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme; the connection is the shared motif of the oppressed's cry reaching the ears of God, drawn by Barnes from the text, and is therefore flagged rather than dressed as a verbal quotation.

Exodus 2:23 · James 5:4

basis: cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme possible; Verifier returns no shared lexeme. The motif-link (the oppressed's cry rising to God's ears) is drawn by Barnes himself at this verse from James 5:4, but cannot be proved from the index; flagged accordingly.

The covenant remembered for Abraham → fulfilled in the Seed who is Christ ancient/widely-held

What God "remembers" in Exodus 2:24 is the covenant with Abraham — and the New Testament reads that covenant as ultimately concerning Christ. Zechariah sings that God acts "to remember his holy covenant... the oath which he sware to our father Abraham" precisely in sending the horn of salvation (Luke 1:69-73), and Paul presses the point to its root: "the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed... who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16). The remembrance that begins the Exodus is the same covenant-faithfulness that, in the fullness of time, sends the true Deliverer. The reading of the Abrahamic covenant as fulfilled in Christ is ancient and unanimous in the church.

Exodus 2:24 · Luke 1:72 · Galatians 3:16

The God who heard the slaves' groaning → the great High Priest who hears with sympathy ancient/widely-held

The four covenant-verbs — heard, remembered, saw, knew — portray a God who is not deaf to suffering but moved by it; Keil calls His notice "all the energy of love and pity." The Pulpit Commentary defends the very anthropomorphism, since love and tenderness toward man "form the only possible phraseology in which ideas of love and tenderness can be expressed." Henry draws the line forward to Christ explicitly at this passage: "God in Christ Jesus is also looking upon you. A call of love is joined with a promise of the Redeemer. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Mt 11:28." The God who hears Israel's groaning is the same God who, in Christ, is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15) and bids the heavy-laden come. This devotional reading toward Christ is given by Henry himself; the broader sympathy-of-God-in-Christ is widely held.

Exodus 2:23 · Exodus 2:24 · Exodus 2:25

The bondage God came down to break → the deliverance Christ accomplishes ancient/widely-held

Exodus 2:23-25 is the prologue to the redemption from Egypt, the Old Testament's master-type of salvation. God hears, remembers, sees, and knows — and the next chapter has Him "come down to deliver" (3:8). The New Testament reads the whole Exodus as a shadow: Christ accomplishes the true "exodus" (Greek exodos) spoken of at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:31), leading His people out of a deeper bondage. As Israel's slavery to Pharaoh is broken by a God who turns His face toward His covenant people, so the bondage to sin and death is broken by the Deliverer the covenant always pointed to. Held as figural reading: the Exodus-as-type-of-Christ's-redemption is ancient and widely held, though here it is type and pattern, marked as interpretation rather than lexical proof.

Exodus 2:23 · Exodus 2:24