Exodus 5:3
New International Version
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

New Living Translation
But Aaron and Moses persisted. “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.”

English Standard Version
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Berean Standard Bible
“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

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

New King James Version
So they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

New American Standard Bible
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will strike us with plague or with the sword.”

NASB 1995
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

NASB 1977
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest He confront us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Amplified Bible
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go on a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God, so that He does not discipline us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Christian Standard Bible
They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then they answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or else He may strike us with plague or sword.”

American Standard Version
And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto Jehovah our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they said, “LORD JEHOVAH, God of the Hebrews, has been revealed unto us; let us go a journey of three days in the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to LORD JEHOVAH our God, lest he will attack us with a sword or with death.”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they say to him, The God of the Hebrews has called us to him: we will go therefore a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest at any time death or slaughter happen to us.

Contemporary English Version
They answered, "The LORD God of the Hebrews has appeared to us. Please let us walk three days into the desert where we can offer sacrifices to him. If you don't, he may strike us down with terrible troubles or with war."

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they said: The God of the Hebrews hath called us, to go three days' journey into the wilderness and to sacrifice to the Lord our God: lest a pestilence or the sword fall upon us.

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

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They replied, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don't go, he may kill us with a plague or a war."

Good News Translation
Moses and Aaron replied, "The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us. Allow us to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don't do so, he will kill us with disease or by war."

International Standard Version
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God so he does not strike us with pestilence or sword."

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they said: 'The God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.'

Literal Standard Version
And they say, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us; please let us go a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we sacrifice to our God YHWH, lest He meet us with pestilence or with sword.”

Majority Standard Bible
“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

New American Bible
They replied, “The God of the Hebrews has come to meet us. Let us go a three days’ journey in the wilderness, that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God, so that he does not strike us with the plague or the sword.”

NET Bible
And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey into the desert so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword."

New Revised Standard Version
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.”

New Heart English Bible
They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."

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

World English Bible
They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.”

Young's Literal Translation
And they say, 'The God of the Hebrews hath met with us, let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He meet us with pestilence or with sword.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Pharaoh's First Refusal
2But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.” 3“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.” 4But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!”…

Cross References
Exodus 3:18
The 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.'

Exodus 7:16
Then say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But you have not listened until now.

Exodus 8:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD says: 'Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Exodus 8:20
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: 'Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Exodus 8:27
We must make a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He commands us."


Treasury of Scripture

And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray you, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice to the LORD our God; lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.

The God.

Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

lest he.

Deuteronomy 28:21
The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

2 Kings 17:25
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

2 Chronicles 30:8
Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

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Desert Fall Hebrews Journey Met Pestilence Please Sacrifice Sword Three Wilderness
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Exodus 5
1. Pharaoh chides Moses and Aaron for their message.
6. He increases the Israelites' task.
16. He ignores their complaints.
19. They cry out to Moses and Aaron.
22. Moses complains to God.














(3) The God of the Hebrews.--Moses accepts Pharaoh's view, and does not insist on the authority of Jehovah over Egyptians, but makes an appeal ad misericordiam. He has, at any rate, authority over Hebrews; and, having made a requirement, He will be angered if they neglect it. Will not Pharaoh allow them to escape His anger?

With the sword.--Egypt was very open to invasion on its eastern frontier; and the brunt of an invasion in this quarter would fall upon the Hebrews. In the time of the nineteenth dynasty, Hittite incursions were especially feared.

Verse 3. - And they said. Moses and Aaron are not abashed by a single refusal. They expostulate, and urge fresh reasons why Pharaoh should accede to their request. But first they explain that Jehovah is the God of the Hebrews, by which name the Israelites seem to have been generally known to the Egyptians (See Exodus 1:15, 16, 19; Exodus 2:6, 7.) Their God, they say, has met with them - made, that is. a special revelation of himself to them - an idea quite familiar to the king, and which he could not pretend to misunderstand and he has laid on them an express command. They are to go a three days' journey into the desert - to be quite clear of interruption from the Egyptians. Will not Pharaoh allow them to obey the order? If they do not obey it, their God will be angry, and will punish them, either by sending a pestilence among them, or causing an invader to fall upon them with the sword. The eastern frontier of Egypt was at this time very open to invasion, and was actually threatened by a vast army some ten or fifteen years later (Brugsch, 'History of Egypt,' vol. 2, pp. 147-9).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“The God
אֱלֹהֵ֥י (’ĕ·lō·hê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

of the Hebrews
הָעִבְרִ֖ים (hā·‘iḇ·rîm)
Article | Noun - proper - masculine plural
Strong's 5680: Hebrews -- perhaps descendant of Eber, also another name for an Israelite

has met
נִקְרָ֣א (niq·rā)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7122: To encounter, befall

with us,”
עָלֵ֑ינוּ (‘ā·lê·nū)
Preposition | first person common plural
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

they answered.
וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ (way·yō·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“Please
נָּ֡א (nā)
Interjection
Strong's 4994: I pray', 'now', 'then'

let us go on
נֵ֣לֲכָה (nê·lă·ḵāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Cohortative - first person common plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

a three-day
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת (šə·lō·šeṯ)
Number - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7969: Three, third, thrice

journey
דֶּרֶךְ֩ (de·reḵ)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

into the wilderness
בַּמִּדְבָּ֗ר (bam·miḏ·bār)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech

to sacrifice
וְנִזְבְּחָה֙ (wə·niz·bə·ḥāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative - first person common plural
Strong's 2076: To slaughter for sacrifice

to the LORD
לַֽיהוָ֣ה (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

our God,
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ (’ĕ·lō·hê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

or
פֶּ֨ן־ (pen-)
Conjunction
Strong's 6435: Removal, lest

He may strike
יִפְגָּעֵ֔נוּ (yip̄·gā·‘ê·nū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common plural
Strong's 6293: To impinge, by accident, violence, by importunity

us with plagues
בַּדֶּ֖בֶר (bad·de·ḇer)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1698: A pestilence

or
א֥וֹ (’ōw)
Conjunction
Strong's 176: Desire, if

with the sword.”
בֶחָֽרֶב׃ (ḇe·ḥā·reḇ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword


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OT Law: Exodus 5:3 They said The God of the Hebrews (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 5:2
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