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Exodus 4:1–5 — Moses’ Staff. 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.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Moses meant to express a positive conviction that he would not be listened to. His faith was weak.

On the force of הֵן — Ellicott rejects rendering it "perhaps," reading a flat assertion, not a question.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

God bears with Moses doubting, because he was not completely without faith.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The first miracle was performed to remove the first obstacle, namely, the reluctance of Moses, conscious of his own weakness, and of the enormous power with which he would have to contend.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

from the time of Jacob-an interval, therefore, of 430 years - God had never appeared to any Israelite

Why the fear was not unreasonable — the long silence of theophany.

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Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mō·šeh way·ya·‘an way·yō·mer wə·hên lō- ya·’ă·mî·nū lî wə·lō yiš·mə·‘ū bə·qō·lî kî yō·mə·rū Yah·weh lō- nir·’āh ’ê·le·ḵā

Word by word16 · parsed

מֹשֶׁה֙mō·šehThen MosesH4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

וַיַּ֤עַןway·ya·‘anansweredH6030

√ ʻânâh — properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיַּ֤עַן (H6030, ‘ânâh) — "and he answered." The verb opens an objection, the third of Moses' protests (cf. Exodus 3:11, 3:13). Barnes: this chapter "begins the series of miracles which resulted in the deliverance of Israel," and the first miracle is aimed at "the reluctance of Moses, conscious of his own weakness."

וַיֹּ֔אמֶרway·yō·merH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וְהֵן֙wə·hênWhat ifH2005

√ hên — lo!Conjunctive wawInterjection

וְהֵן֙ (H2005, hên) — "behold." The hinge of the verse and the chief crux of the named commentators. Ellicott denies it ever means "perhaps"; the Pulpit Commentary calls it "emphatic and peremptory." Moses is not asking a question — he is announcing, against God's word, that the people will reject him.

לֹֽא־lō-they do notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

יַאֲמִ֣ינוּya·’ă·mî·nūbelieveH539

√ ʼâman — properly, to build up or supportVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine plural

יַאֲמִ֣ינוּ (H539, ’âman, Hiphil) — "they will believe / give credence." This is the keyword of the whole unit: the very verb God will repeat in v. 5 ("that they may believe") and that the people finally fulfill in v. 31 ("and the people believed"). The sign cycle exists to move Israel from Moses' feared lō’ ya’ămînū to the narrative's way·ya’ămēn.

לִ֔יlîme

Prepositionfirst person common singular

וְלֹ֥אwə·lōorH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יִשְׁמְע֖וּyiš·mə·‘ūlistenH8085

√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

יִשְׁמְע֖וּ (H8085, šāma‘) — "they will hear / hearken." With bə·qōl following, the idiom means "obey." Geneva Study Bible reads the whole protest charitably: "God bears with Moses doubting, because he was not completely without faith."

בְּקֹלִ֑יbə·qō·lîto my voiceH6963

√ qôwl — a voice or soundPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular

כִּ֣יkîForH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

יֹֽאמְר֔וּyō·mə·rūthey may sayH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

יְהוָֽה׃Yah·wehThe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

יְהוָֽה (H3068) — the covenant name, placed last in the imagined accusation: "YHWH has not appeared to you." Keil & Delitzsch ground the fear historically: "from the time of Jacob — an interval, therefore, of 430 years — God had never appeared to any Israelite." Moses fears the people will think the age of theophany closed.

לֹֽא־lō-has notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

נִרְאָ֥הnir·’āhappearedH7200

√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)VerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular

נִרְאָ֥ה (H7200, rā’âh, Niphal) — "appeared," literally "was seen / let himself be seen." The Niphal of "to see" is the standard verb of theophany (Genesis 12:7; Exodus 3:2). The same form returns in v. 5 — the appearing denied here is the appearing the signs are meant to prove.

אֵלֶ֖יךָ’ê·le·ḵāto youH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-answered Moses and-said: "And-behold, they-will-not believe me, and-not will-they-hear to-my-voice; for they-will-say, 'YHWH has-not appeared to-you.'"

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּ֤עַן BSB "answered" carries the right sense, but the Hebrew doubles the verbs of speaking — way·ya·‘an ("and he answered") + way·yō·mer ("and he said") — the formulaic Hebrew pairing the English collapses into one word. The root of "answered" (H6030 ‘ânâh) properly means "to heed, to respond," framing Moses' words as a reply pushed back against God's commission of ch. 3.
וְהֵן֙ The BSB's "What if" softens wə·hên — literally "and behold!" (H2005), a particle of asseveration, not of supposition. Ellicott, the Pulpit Commentary (citing Rosenmüller) and JFB all wrestle here: the LXX and Aben-Ezra render it "perhaps," but the plain force is "behold, they will not" — a flat assertion of unbelief, not a hesitant query. The English question mark imports a doubt the Hebrew states as fact.
יַאֲמִ֣ינוּ "Believe" renders ya·’ă·mî·nū, the Hiphil of H539 ’âman — a root that means "to be firm, to build up, to support"; the Hiphil is "to regard as firm, to trust." The same word stands behind ’āmēn, "amen." English "believe" sounds like mental assent; the Hebrew is the act of leaning one's weight on something reliable.
בְּקֹלִ֑י "Listen to my voice" is literally bə·qō·lî — "to / in my voice" (H6963 qôl). Hebrew "to hear in the voice" (šāma‘ bə-qôl) is the idiom for obey, not merely "hear sound." The phrase echoes God's own promise in Exodus 3:18 ("they will hearken to thy voice") — which Moses here flatly contradicts.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The question was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Probably a simple staff, the natural support of a man of advanced years, is meant.

Against Barnes' "baton of authority" and the "shepherd's crook" reading — the plainest object.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The staff in his hand was his shepherd's crook

Notes that מזּה here is מה־זה "in this place alone" — a unique contracted form.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Here, in J, it is represented as the shepherd’s staff which was naturally in Moses’ hands, and it becomes the medium of the display of the divine power to him.

A source-critical voice (Driver/Cambridge): the ordinary shepherd's staff of ch. 4 (J) is distinct from the God-given 'rod of God' of v. 17 (E) and Aaron's rod of Exodus 7 (P). Recorded as scholarly framing, not endorsed.

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And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·yō·mer ’ê·lāw maz·zɛh ḇə·yā·ḏe·ḵā maṭ·ṭeh way·yō·mer

Word by word7 · parsed

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehAnd the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

יְהוָ֖ה (H3068) — YHWH himself is the questioner. JFB: the question "was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses." God catechizes by asking what is already in plain sight.

וַיֹּ֧אמֶרway·yō·meraskedH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֵלָ֛יו’ê·lāwhimH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionthird person masculine singular

מַזֶּהmaz·zɛhWhat is thatH4100

√ mâh — properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?)Interrogative

מַזֶּה (H4100 + demonstrative) — "what is this?" The contracted form is a hapax of orthography (K&D). The grammar itself is pointed: God directs Moses' eyes downward, to the commonest thing he owns.

בְיָדֶ֑ךָḇə·yā·ḏe·ḵāin your handH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

בְיָדֶ֑ךָ (H3027, yāḏ) — "in your hand." The recurring noun of the passage (vv. 2, 4 ×3, 6); the sign is staged entirely in and around Moses' own hand. The point: God commissions with what the servant already holds.

מַטֶּֽה׃maṭ·ṭehA staffH4294

√ maṭṭeh — a branch (as extending)Nounmasculine singular

מַטֶּֽה (H4294, maṭṭeh) — "a staff / rod." Keil & Delitzsch: "The staff in his hand was his shepherd's crook... and represented his calling as a shepherd." The implement of the keeping of sheep is about to become the instrument of the deliverance of a nation.

וַיֹּ֖אמֶרway·yō·merhe repliedH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-said YHWH to-him: "What-is-this in-your-hand?" And-he-said: "A-staff."

Where the English smooths the original

מַזֶּה The BSB's smooth "What is that" hides a rare contraction. maz·zeh is mâh-zeh ("what [is] this?") fused into one written word — a form Keil & Delitzsch flag as occurring "in this place alone" in the Hebrew Bible (H4100 mâh + the demonstrative). The question points to the object right in Moses' grip: not "that" at a distance, but "this — in your hand."
בְיָדֶ֑ךָ "In your hand" is ḇə·yā·ḏe·ḵā (H3027 yāḏ), a word that carries the freight of "power, agency." The whole unit turns on what is in the hand: the ordinary thing already there becomes, by God's word, "the rod of God" (cf. v. 20). The English "hand" is flat; the Hebrew yāḏ is the standing metaphor for might.
מַטֶּֽה׃ "A staff" renders maṭ·ṭeh (H4294), from a root meaning "a branch, that which extends / stretches out." The commentators divide: Benson and JFB read a shepherd's crook; Barnes the long official baton of Egyptian authority; the Pulpit Commentary the plain walking-stick of an old man. The Hebrew names only the bare object — God supplies the meaning.

The Voices✦ 5 public domain

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

It became a serpent, i.e. was really changed into a serpent; whereby it was intimated what and how pernicious his rod should be to the Egyptians.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The serpent was probably the basilisk or Uraeus, the Cobra. This was the symbol of royal and divine power on the diadem of every Pharaoh.

The royal-cobra reading the Pulpit Commentary calls "fanciful" — recorded here as a contested view.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The serpent had been the constant enemy of the seed of the woman ( Genesis 3 ), and represented the power of the wicked one which prevailed in Egypt.

Reads נָחָשׁ back to Genesis 3 — the link the Verifier confirms by the shared rare lexeme.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

as a serpent was the fittest emblem of the devil

Citing Lightfoot — the serpent-sign shows Moses works not by the devil's power but over it.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

it became a token to Israel of guidance, encouragement, and protection; but to Egypt, like the bite of the most poisonous serpent, it betokened desolating judgments

Benson reads the one rod as double-edged — staff of shepherding to Israel, serpent's bite to Egypt.

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“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

haš·lî·ḵê·hū ’ar·ṣāh way·yō·mer way·yaš·lî·ḵê·hū ’ar·ṣāh way·hî lə·nā·ḥāš mō·šeh way·yā·nās mip·pā·nāw

Word by word10 · parsed

הַשְׁלִיכֵ֣הוּhaš·lî·ḵê·hūThrowH7993

√ shâlak — to throw out, down or away (literally or figuratively)VerbHifilImperativemasculine singularthird person masculine singular

הַשְׁלִיכֵ֣הוּ (H7993, šālak, Hiphil imperative) — "throw it down!" A curt command. Gill: "this was the first miracle that ever was wrought, that we know of."

אַ֔רְצָה’ar·ṣāhit on the groundH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singularthird person feminine singular

וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙way·yō·mersaid [the LORD]H559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיַּשְׁלִיכֵ֥הוּway·yaš·lî·ḵê·hūSo [Moses] threwH7993

√ shâlak — to throw out, down or away (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

אַ֖רְצָה’ar·ṣāhit on the groundH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singularthird person feminine singular

וַיְהִ֣יway·hîand it becameH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיְהִ֣י (H1961, hāyâh) — "and it became." Poole: "It became a serpent, i.e. was really changed into a serpent." The verb of bare existence carries the whole transformation.

לְנָחָ֑שׁlə·nā·ḥāša snakeH5175

√ nâchâsh — a snake (from its hiss)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular

לְנָחָ֑שׁ (H5175, nāḥāš) — "into a serpent." The interpretive battleground. Barnes and Keil & Delitzsch load it with meaning — the uraeus of Pharaoh's crown (Barnes), the ancient enemy of Genesis 3 (K&D) — while the Pulpit Commentary calls such readings "fanciful" and prefers a known conjurors' trick out-done. The word itself is generic; the resonance is the reader's wager.

מֹשֶׁ֖הmō·šehand [he]H4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

וַיָּ֥נָסway·yā·nāsranH5127

√ nûwç — to flit, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיָּ֥נָס (H5127, nûs) — "and he fled." The candid record of a prophet's panic. The flight is the foil for the courage God will require in the next verse.

מִפָּנָֽיו׃mip·pā·nāwfrom itH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-mNouncommon plural constructthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-said: "Throw-it ground-ward." And-he-threw-it ground-ward, and-it-became a-serpent; and-Moses fled from-before-it.

Where the English smooths the original

אַ֔רְצָה "On the ground" smooths ’ar·ṣāh — "earth-ward, to the ground" (H776 ’ereṣ + the directional he-locale ending). The suffix gives motion, not location: cast it down toward the earth. The same casting-down recurs in the magicians' duel of Exodus 7:10–12, where Moses' serpent swallows theirs.
וַיְהִ֣י "It became" is way·hî (H1961 hāyâh, "to be / become") — the bare verb of being. Gill and Poole both press that the change was ontological, not optical: "really changed into a serpent," not made merely to look like one. The plain "became" is doing heavy theological work — God, author of nature, alters the nature of the thing.
לְנָחָ֑שׁ "A snake" renders lə·nā·ḥāš (H5175 nāḥāš), "a serpent, from its hiss" — a generic term (Ellicott, Pulpit Commentary), not the cobra/uraeus the chapter's later imagery might suggest. Crucially it is the very word of Genesis 3:1; the Verifier records H5175 nāḥāš shared between the two (rare — only 28 verses).
וַיָּ֥נָס "He ran" is way·yā·nās (H5127 nûs), "to flee, take flight" — stronger than "ran." Ellicott notes it is the kind of small, self-incriminating detail "any later writer would have passed over": Moses flees his own staff. The fear here makes the obedience of v. 4 ("he put forth his hand") all the more an act of faith.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

The tail was the dangerous part; whereby God would try Moses’s faith, and prepare him for the approaching difficulties.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Faith triumphed over instinct. Moses had “fled from” the snake when first he saw it ( Exodus 4:3 ). Now he is daring enough to stoop down, put his hand on the creature’s tail, and so lift it up.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

others refer it to Christ, who is the power of God, and the rod of his strength, and who in his state of humiliation was like this rod, cast to the ground and became a serpent, of which the brazen serpent was a type, and who by his resurrection from the dead regained his former power

Gill reports this Christological reading as one of three; he himself leans to the simplest (Moses' own ministry).

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“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šə·laḥ yā·ḏə·ḵā we·’ĕ·ḥōz biz·nā·ḇōw Yah·weh way·yō·mer ’el- mō·šeh way·yiš·laḥ yā·ḏōw way·ya·ḥă·zeq bōw way·hî lə·maṭ·ṭeh bə·ḵap·pōw

Word by word15 · parsed

שְׁלַח֙šə·laḥStretch outH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular

שְׁלַח֙ (H7971, šālaḥ, Qal imperative) — "send out / stretch out [your hand]." The root is the verb of commissioning and of release: God will "send" Moses (’ešlāḥăḵā, Exodus 3:10), and the demand to Pharaoh will be the Piel of this same stem — šallaḥ ’et-‘ammî, "let my people go" (Exodus 5:1). The faith-test is framed by the very word of mission: Moses must "send out" his hand toward what he fled before he can "send out" a nation. Ellicott: "Faith triumphed over instinct. Moses had 'fled from' the snake when first he saw it... Now he is daring enough to stoop down, put his hand on the creature's tail."

יָֽדְךָ֔yā·ḏə·ḵāyour handH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

וֶאֱחֹ֖זwe·’ĕ·ḥōzand grab itH270

√ ʼâchaz — to seize (often with the accessory idea of holding in possession)Conjunctive wawVerbQalImperativemasculine singular

בִּזְנָב֑וֹbiz·nā·ḇōwby the tailH2180

√ zânâb — the tail (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

בִּזְנָב֑וֹ (H2180, zānāḇ) — "by its tail." The crux of the sign as faith-test. Poole: the tail was "the dangerous part." The Verifier finds zānāḇ shared with a cluster of "head and tail" oracles (Deuteronomy 28:13, 44; Isaiah 9:14–15; 19:15) — but those are an idiom for rank, not this literal serpent's tail; the verbal overlap is real, the sense is not.

יְהוָה֙Yah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

מֹשֶׁ֔הmō·šehMosesH4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

וַיִּשְׁלַ֤חway·yiš·laḥ[who] reached outH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

יָדוֹ֙yā·ḏōwhis handH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וַיַּ֣חֲזֶקway·ya·ḥă·zeqand caughtH2388

√ châzaq — to fasten uponConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיַּ֣חֲזֶק (H2388, ḥāzaq, Hiphil) — "and he took fast hold." The narrator upgrades the verb from God's milder imperative ’ĕḥōz ("grasp," H270): Moses' obedience is emphatic, a hard grip on the thing he feared. The same root ḥāzaq becomes the leitwort of Pharaoh's "hardened" (strengthened) heart through the plague cycle (Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:12). The pointed contrast stands at the threshold of the contest: the servant's hand made firm in faith over against the king's heart made firm in defiance — the same verb, opposite ends.

בּ֔וֹbōw[the snake]

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

וַיְהִ֥יway·hîand it turned backH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיְהִ֥י (H1961) — "and it became [a staff]." The reverse of v. 3: the serpent that the staff became now becomes the staff again. The Pulpit Commentary stresses it was "a veritable rod once more, not a mere stiffened snake."

לְמַטֶּ֖הlə·maṭ·ṭehinto a staffH4294

√ maṭṭeh — a branch (as extending)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular

בְּכַפּֽוֹ׃bə·ḵap·pōwin his handH3709

√ kaph — the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

בְּכַפּֽוֹ (H3709, kaph) — "in his palm." The closing word, naming the hollow of the hand: the sign ends where it began, the commonplace staff back in the shepherd's own grip — now "the rod of God."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-said YHWH to-Moses: "Stretch-out your-hand and-grasp by-its-tail" — and-he-stretched-out his-hand and-seized it, and-it-became a-staff in-his-palm.

Where the English smooths the original

שְׁלַח֙ "Stretch out" is šə·laḥ (H7971 šālaḥ), "to send out / send away." Moses is to send his hand toward the very thing he fled. The same verb stem (šālaḥ) is the one that will resound through the plagues — "let my people go" (šallaḥ) — and that named God's commission. The faith-test is built from the word of mission itself.
בִּזְנָב֑וֹ "By the tail" is biz·nā·ḇōw (H2180 zānāḇ). Every named commentator marks the point: a snake-handler grips the neck to be safe; God orders the tail, the dangerous end. Poole: "The tail was the dangerous part; whereby God would try Moses's faith." The English preposition hides the deliberate peril the Hebrew places in that one noun.
וַיַּ֣חֲזֶק "Caught" renders way·ya·ḥă·zeq (H2388 ḥāzaq, Hiphil), "to make strong, to seize firmly, to take fast hold" — a different, stronger verb than the imperative ’ĕḥōz ("grasp") God gave. Moses does not merely touch it; he grips it hard. The same root ḥāzaq will describe Pharaoh's "hardened" heart — here it is the firm grip of obedient faith.
בְּכַפּֽוֹ׃ "In his hand" at the verse's end is bə·ḵap·pōw (H3709 kaph) — the palm, the hollow of the hand, not the general yāḏ used earlier. The staff is restored to the very cup of the hand from which it had been thrown. The shift of word quietly marks the return: what left the open hand comes back to the closed palm.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

An imperfect sentence, to be thus completed, This thou shalt do before them, that they may believe.

On the grammar — Hebrew gives a bare purpose clause; the main verb is supplied by the translator.

source ↗

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

the power of working miracles is given to men, primarily and mainly, for its evidential value to accredit them as God’s messengers

source ↗

Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

This power to work miracles was to confirm his doctrine, and to assure him of his vocation.

source ↗

Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

These miracles especially referred to the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Henry's note covers the whole sign-cycle (4:1–9); his Christological reading is recorded, not endorsed as the verse's plain sense.

source ↗

“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lə·ma·‘an ya·’ă·mî·nū kî- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê ’ă·ḇō·ṯām ’ĕ·lō·hê ’aḇ·rā·hām ’ĕ·lō·hê yiṣ·ḥāq wê·lō·hê ya·‘ă·qōḇ nir·’āh ’ê·le·ḵā

Word by word14 · parsed

לְמַ֣עַןlə·ma·‘anThis is so thatH4616

√ maʻan — properly, heed, iConjunction

לְמַ֣עַן (H4616, ma‘an) — "in order that." Ellicott reads the purpose theologically: the sign's aim is "its evidential value to accredit" the messenger; Geneva: "to confirm his doctrine, and to assure him of his vocation."

יַאֲמִ֔ינוּya·’ă·mî·nūthey may believeH539

√ ʼâman — properly, to build up or supportVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine plural

יַאֲמִ֔ינוּ (H539, ’âman, Hiphil) — "they may believe." The keyword resolved. The Verifier records H539 ’âman + H7200 rā’âh shared between v. 1 and v. 5 — the lexical proof of the inclusio that frames the unit (believe / appeared, denied in v. 1, purposed in v. 5).

כִּֽי־kî-thatH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

יְהוָ֖ה (H3068) — the covenant name, the subject of "has appeared." What the imagined skeptic of v. 1 denied — "YHWH has not appeared to you" — God now affirms as the very thing the sign will prove.

אֱלֹהֵ֣י’ĕ·lō·hêthe GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural construct

אֱלֹהֵ֣י (H430, ’ĕlōhîm) — "God of..." The fourfold construct chain (fathers / Abraham / Isaac / Jacob) re-cites Exodus 3:6 verbatim in substance — the Verifier confirms H85, H3327, H3290 (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) shared. This triple title is the one Jesus presses against the Sadducees as proof of the resurrection (Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26).

אֲבֹתָ֑ם’ă·ḇō·ṯāmof their fathersH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural

אֱלֹהֵ֧י’ĕ·lō·hêthe GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural construct

אַבְרָהָ֛ם’aḇ·rā·hāmof AbrahamH85

√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֵ֥י’ĕ·lō·hêthe GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural construct

יִצְחָ֖קyiṣ·ḥāqof IsaacH3327

√ Yitschâq — Jitschak (or Isaac), son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular

וֵאלֹהֵ֥יwê·lō·hêand the GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

יַעֲקֹֽב׃ya·‘ă·qōḇof JacobH3290

√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular

נִרְאָ֥הnir·’āhhas appearedH7200

√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)VerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular

נִרְאָ֥ה (H7200, rā’âh, Niphal) — "has appeared." The same theophany-verb as v. 1, now in God's mouth as settled fact. The aim of every sign in the chapter is to turn that denied appearing into a believed one.

אֵלֶ֛יךָ’ê·le·ḵāto youH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

"So-that they-may-believe that YHWH, the-God of-their-fathers, the-God of-Abraham, the-God of-Isaac, and-the-God of-Jacob, has-appeared to-you."

Where the English smooths the original

לְמַ֣עַן "This is so that" supplies a whole subject and verb the Hebrew omits. lə·ma·‘an (H4616) is simply "in order that / to the end that" — a bare purpose clause with no main verb. Poole names it: "An imperfect sentence, to be thus completed, This thou shalt do before them, that they may believe." The BSB's "This is" is a translator's scaffold, not in the text.
יַאֲמִ֔ינוּ "They may believe" is ya·’ă·mî·nū — the exact Hiphil of H539 ’âman from v. 1. The inclusio is the architecture of the unit: Moses' fear "they will not believe me" (v. 1) is answered word-for-word by God's purpose "that they may believe" (v. 5). The English uses "believe" both times, which (rightly) preserves the link the Hebrew makes.
אֱלֹהֵ֣י "The God" is ’ĕ·lō·hê (H430 ’ĕlōhîm), grammatically a plural form ("gods") taking singular sense and singular verbs — the so-called plural of majesty. Repeated four times in construct ("God of their fathers... of Abraham... of Isaac... of Jacob"), the drumbeat ties Moses' commission to the patriarchal covenant of Exodus 3:6.

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.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The third objection: "they will not believe me" — Exodus 4:1

This unit opens on Moses' third recoil from the call (after "Who am I?" in 3:11 and "What is his name?" in 3:13). The Hebrew is blunter than the English. The BSB's tentative "What if they do not believe me" softens wə·hên lō’ ya’ămînū — "and behold, they will not believe." Ellicott insists the word "does not appear to have anywhere" the meaning "perhaps": "Moses meant to express a positive conviction that he would not be listened to. His faith was weak." The Pulpit Commentary, citing Rosenmüller, agrees — "the phrase is really emphatic and peremptory." Yet the protest is not flat rebellion: the Geneva Study Bible reads mercy into it — "God bears with Moses doubting, because he was not completely without faith." Note too that Moses contradicts a promise already given: God had said in 3:18, "they will hearken to thy voice." Keil & Delitzsch make the fear historically intelligible — "from the time of Jacob — an interval, therefore, of 430 years — God had never appeared to any Israelite." The objection sets the unit's single keyword in motion: ’âman, to believe.

ii. "What is this in your hand?" — the commission in the commonplace — Exodus 4:2

God answers an objection not with argument but with a question about an object already in Moses' grip: maz·zeh ḇə·yāḏe·ḵā — a rare contracted form (Keil & Delitzsch: mâh-zeh "in this place alone"). JFB: the question "was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses." What is in the hand is a maṭṭeh, a staff — and the named voices cannot agree what kind. Barnes sees "the long staff which on Egyptian monuments is borne by men in positions of authority"; Benson and JFB, "probably the shepherd's crook"; the Pulpit Commentary settles, against both, on "a simple staff, the natural support of a man of advanced years." Keil & Delitzsch read it vocationally: "The staff in his hand was his shepherd's crook... and represented his calling as a shepherd." The theological weight is in the ordinariness: God deputizes the deliverer of a nation with the stick he was already carrying to mind sheep.

iii. The staff, the serpent, the flight — Exodus 4:3

Thrown down, the staff way·hî lə·nāḥāš — "became a serpent." Poole and Gill both press that the change was real, not apparent: "really changed into a serpent," Gill stressing that God "who is the author of nature, can change the nature of things as he pleases." The meaning of the serpent is where the tradition fractures — and here the synthesis must report division honestly. Barnes sees the royal uraeus/cobra of Pharaoh's diadem, the sign "a pledge and representation of victory over the king and gods of Egypt." Keil & Delitzsch read it back to Eden: "The serpent had been the constant enemy of the seed of the woman (Genesis 3), and represented the power of the wicked one which prevailed in Egypt." The Pulpit Commentary rejects both as "fanciful," preferring a known conjurors' trick that Moses' sign would out-perform. Gill, citing Lightfoot, draws the opposite inference from the serpent imagery: it proves Moses works "not by the power of the devil, but had a power over and beyond him." And the small, candid detail — way·yānās mippānāw, "and he fled from before it" — Ellicott reads as a mark of authenticity: "Any later writer would have passed over so small a circumstance."

iv. "Take it by the tail" — faith over instinct — Exodus 4:4

The second half of the sign is a deliberate test. God commands Moses to grasp the serpent biz·nāḇōw, "by the tail" — the dangerous end. Every named commentator notes the inversion of all snake-handling sense. Poole: "The tail was the dangerous part; whereby God would try Moses's faith, and prepare him for the approaching difficulties." Ellicott frames the moment as a victory of trust over reflex: "Faith triumphed over instinct. Moses had 'fled from' the snake when first he saw it. Now he is daring enough to stoop down, put his hand on the creature's tail." The narrator's verb upgrades from God's mild ’ĕḥōz ("grasp") to way·ya·ḥăzeq ("he took fast hold") — emphatic obedience. Here too Gill records — without fully endorsing — a Christological reading already alive in his sources: the rod "refer[s] it to Christ, who is the power of God... in his state of humiliation was like this rod, cast to the ground and became a serpent, of which the brazen serpent was a type, and who by his resurrection from the dead regained his former power."

v. "That they may believe" — the sign's whole purpose — Exodus 4:5

The closing verse is grammatically broken on purpose. Poole: "An imperfect sentence, to be thus completed, This thou shalt do before them, that they may believe." The Hebrew gives only the purpose clause, lə·ma‘an ya’ămînū — and that verb, ya’ămînū, is the exact word Moses had used in v. 1. The unit is a sealed inclusio: the fear "they will not believe me" (v. 1) is answered, word for word, by God's purpose "that they may believe" (v. 5). The named voices read the sign's function in evidential terms — Ellicott: miracles are given "for [their] evidential value to accredit them as God's messengers"; Geneva: "to confirm his doctrine, and to assure him of his vocation." The verse ends by re-citing the patriarchal title of 3:6 — "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" — anchoring a new theophany in the old covenant. Matthew Henry, surveying the whole sign-cycle (4:1–9), draws the line forward: "These miracles especially referred to the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under Sola Scriptura, this short unit is a self-contained drama of a single verb — ’âman, to believe. It opens with the deliverer's unbelief ("they will not believe me," v. 1) and closes with God's stated remedy for it ("that they may believe," v. 5); everything between is God's tender, patient answer to a servant's weak faith. And notice how God answers. He does not rebuke the doubt; He asks, "What is this in your hand?" The instrument of deliverance is the thing already there — a shepherd's stick — transformed and handed back. The faith-test is exact: the man who fled the serpent (v. 3) must seize it by its most dangerous end (v. 4), and only in the grasping does it become "the rod of God." My own fallible reading is that the passage teaches less about staffs and snakes than about the economy of God's call: He commissions the reluctant, equips them with what they already hold, and grows their faith by requiring of them the very act they most fear. The sign is for the people (v. 5), but it is plainly for Moses too — God lets His servant feel the power in his own hand before sending him to wield it. Where the older voices reach for the uraeus of Pharaoh or the serpent of Eden, I would under-claim: the text names only nāḥāš, a serpent, generic; the richer typologies are real possibilities to be weighed against Scripture, not certainties to be asserted. This reading is offered to be tested, not believed on my word.

God answers the servant's "they will not believe" not with an argument but with a question: "What is this in your hand?" — and the deliverance was already there. (A line of synthesis — not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The protest answered: "they will not believe" → "that they may believe" structural / thematic — confirmed

The unit's tightest internal seam. Moses' fear in 4:1 — lō’ ya’ămînū lî, "they will not believe me" — is answered word-for-word by God's purpose in 4:5, lə·ma‘an ya’ămînū, "that they may believe." The Verifier records the shared lexemes H539 ’âman (believe, in 99 vv) and H7200 rā’âh (appear/see, in 1200 vv) between the two verses — the very pair denied in v. 1 ("believe... appeared") and purposed in v. 5. This is a verbal inclusio inside a single passage, but because the shared words are common Hebrew vocabulary (not rare), it is tiered structural rather than "verbal — confirmed."

Exodus 4:1 · Exodus 4:5

basis: shared lexemes within the unit: H539 ’âman (believe, 99 vv) + H7200 rā’âh (appear, 1200 vv) — both common, so structural not verbal

"Hearken to thy voice" — the promise Moses contradicts (3:18) and the fathers he invokes (3:6) structural / thematic — confirmed

Exodus 4 is the sequel to the burning-bush commission, and the lexemes prove the seam. Moses' worry that the people will not "hear his voice" (4:1) inverts God's promise in Exodus 3:18 — the Verifier finds H6963 qôl (voice) + H8085 šāma‘ (hear) shared. And 4:5's fourfold patriarchal title re-cites Exodus 3:6 almost verbatim: the Verifier confirms H85 ’Abrāhām, H3327 Yiṣḥāq, H3290 Ya‘ăqōḇ, and H1 ’āb shared between them. The signs of 4:2–5 are God re-grounding His call in the same voice and the same covenant Moses had already been given.

Exodus 3:6 · Exodus 3:18 · Exodus 4:1 · Exodus 4:5

basis: 4:1↔3:18 share H6963 qôl + H8085 šāma‘; 4:5↔3:6 share H85, H3327, H3290 (Abraham/Isaac/Jacob) + H1 ’āb — Hebrew↔Hebrew, motif not quotation

The serpent of Eden ↔ the serpent of the staff structural / thematic — confirmed

When the staff becomes a nāḥāš (4:3), it is the very word of Genesis 3:1. The Verifier records H5175 nāḥāš (serpent) shared — a comparatively rare lexeme, found in only 28 verses. Keil & Delitzsch make exactly this connection: "The serpent had been the constant enemy of the seed of the woman (Genesis 3)." Yet the link is a shared creature-word and motif, not a quotation or citation, so it is tiered structural, not verbal; and the Pulpit Commentary explicitly calls the Eden reading "fanciful" — the connection is genuine at the level of vocabulary, contested at the level of intent.

Exodus 4:3 · Genesis 3:1

basis: shared rare lexeme H5175 nāḥāš (serpent, only 28 vv) — Hebrew↔Hebrew motif; not a quotation, and the typological intent is disputed (K&D affirms, Pulpit Commentary denies)

The serpent-word across the Old Testament structural / thematic — confirmed

The nāḥāš of 4:3 belongs to a small, vivid cluster of texts that share the same comparatively rare creature-word (H5175 nāḥāš, only 28 verses). The Verifier confirms it shared with the serpent of Eden (Genesis 3:1), the fiery serpents of the wilderness (Numbers 21:6), Dan "a serpent by the way" in Jacob's blessing (Genesis 49:17), and Amos's image of the man who escapes the lion and bear only to be bitten by a serpent at home (Amos 5:19). These are independent uses of a common motif — danger, judgment, the lurking enemy — not quotations of one another; the verbal overlap is real (and the lexeme genuinely uncommon), but the thread is the recurrence of an image, so it is tiered structural, never verbal. It is offered as motif-context for Moses' serpent, not as a claim that any of these texts cite Exodus 4.

Exodus 4:3 · Genesis 3:1 · Genesis 49:17 · Numbers 21:6 · Amos 5:19

basis: shared lexeme H5175 nāḥāš (serpent, 28 vv — uncommon) across Gen 3:1 / Gen 49:17 / Num 21:6 / Amos 5:19, all Hebrew↔Hebrew; a recurring motif-word, not a quotation, so structural not verbal

The same staff and serpent before Pharaoh (7:8–15) structural / thematic — confirmed

The private sign given to Moses here is the public sign performed before Pharaoh in Exodus 7:8–15, where Aaron's rod becomes a serpent and swallows the magicians' rods. The Verifier confirms H4294 maṭṭeh (staff, 205 vv) shared between 4:2 and 7:15, and the parallel scene shares the casting-down verb (H7993 šālak) and the serpent. Barnes reads the sign forward to that confrontation as "a pledge and representation of victory over the king and gods of Egypt." (Note the narrator's care, flagged by the Cambridge Bible: 7:8–13 uses a different word, tannîn, for the serpent than the nāḥāš of ch. 4.)

Exodus 4:2 · Exodus 4:3 · Exodus 7:10 · Exodus 7:15

basis: 4:2↔7:15 share H4294 maṭṭeh (staff) + H3027 yāḏ (hand); 4:3↔7:10 share H7993 šālak (cast) + the serpent-sign motif — same sign, two settings

The brazen serpent: rod, serpent, and lifted-up healing flagged — verify source

Gill draws the line from this serpent-sign to the bronze serpent Moses later lifts in Numbers 21:9 — "of which the brazen serpent was a type." The Verifier confirms H5175 nāḥāš (serpent, 28 vv) + H4872 Mōšeh shared between Exodus 4:3 and Numbers 21:9. This is a within-Testament Hebrew link, tiered structural. The further step — to John 3:14 ("as Moses lifted up the serpent... so must the Son of Man be lifted up") — is cross-Testament with no shared original-language lexeme (the Verifier returns none); it is John's own typology and is flagged below, not asserted on a word-link.

Exodus 4:3 · Numbers 21:9 · John 3:14

basis: Ex 4:3↔Num 21:9 share H5175 nāḥāš + H4872 Mōšeh (structural, within-Testament); the extension to John 3:14 is cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) with NO shared lexeme — the serpent typology is John's own and must be argued, so the chain is flagged

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

"The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" — the God of the living ancient/widely-held

Exodus 4:5 closes by re-citing the patriarchal name from 3:6: "YHWH, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." This is the precise title Jesus invokes against the Sadducees to prove the resurrection: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). The Christ-link is not a chance word-overlap but an explicit New Testament citation of the Exodus formula — but because it is Greek↔Hebrew it cannot be tiered "verbal" on shared Strong's numbers; it is the Lord's own widely-held exegesis of the burning-bush title that recurs here.

Exodus 3:6 · Exodus 4:5 · Matthew 22:32 · Luke 20:37

The serpent grasped, the rod restored, and the Son lifted up ancient/widely-held

The sign of the rod-become-serpent-become-rod was read Christologically by Gill's sources: the rod that is "cast to the ground and became a serpent... by his resurrection from the dead regained his former power." The connecting tissue is the serpent that Moses must seize and that he will later lift up in the wilderness (Numbers 21:9), which our Lord makes the explicit type of His own crucifixion: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14). Honesty requires the caveat: this is a figural reading, ancient and not novel, but the John 3:14 link is cross-Testament with no shared lexeme — the connection is theological, not lexical. Matthew Henry generalizes the whole sign-cycle: "These miracles especially referred to the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Exodus 4:3 · Exodus 4:4 · Numbers 21:9 · John 3:14

Apparatus & Provenance

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:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Two readings in this unit must be held with open hands. (1) The serpent typology — reading the nāḥāš of 4:3 back to Eden (Genesis 3) or forward to the bronze serpent and the Cross — is ancient and lexically anchored within the Old Testament (shared H5175 nāḥāš), but the named voices openly divide on it: Keil & Delitzsch affirm the Eden link, the Pulpit Commentary calls it "fanciful," and Gill reports the Christological reading as one of three options he does not finally choose. We record it, attributed, without asserting it as the verse's plain sense. (2) The cross-Testament links to Matthew 22:32 ("God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob") and John 3:14 (the lifted-up serpent) are Greek↔Hebrew and therefore cannot be tiered "verbal" on shared Strong's numbers — even where, as with Matthew 22:32, the NT explicitly quotes the formula. The Matthew citation is genuine and unanimous; the John 3:14 serpent-type is real but theological, not lexical, and is flagged accordingly. On the identity of the serpent (cobra/uraeus per Barnes, generic per Ellicott and the Pulpit Commentary): the Hebrew names only nāḥāš, generic; the species is inference, not text. All synthesis (⚙) here is fallible and has no authority — weigh it against Scripture (Acts 17:11).

✦ = 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)