Exodus 5 · Verse 3

Exodus 5:3

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.
Exodus 5:3, King James Version

Exodus 5:3 in other translations

BSB“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.”
WEBThey said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
ASVAnd 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.
YLTAnd 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.'
DARBYAnd they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword.
BBEAnd they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.
WebsterAnd 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.

What does Exodus 5:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
3. The God of the Hebrews hath met with us--Instead of being provoked into reproaches or threats, they mildly assured him that it was not a proposal originating among themselves, but a duty enjoined on them by their God. They had for a long series of years been debarred from the privilege of religious worship, and as there was reason to fear that a continued neglect of divine ordinances would draw down upon them the judgments of offended heaven, they begged permission to go three days' journey into the desert--a place of seclusion--where their sacrificial observances would neither suffer interruption nor give umbrage to the Egyptians. In saying this, they concealed their ultimate design of abandoning the kingdom, and by making this partial request at first, they probably wished to try the king's temper before they disclosed their intentions any farther. But they said only what God had put in their mouths (Ex 3:12, 18), and this "legalizes the specific act, while it gives no sanction to the general habit of dissimulation" [Chalmers].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 3 Three days' journey - The distance from Goshen to Sinai; see Exo 3:18. And sacrifice unto the Lord - Great stress is laid on this circumstance. God required sacrifice; no religious acts which they performed could be acceptable to him without this. He had now showed them that it was their indispensable duty thus to worship him, and that if they did not they might expect him to send the pestilence - some plague or death proceeding immediately from himself, or the sword - extermination by the hands of an enemy. The original word דבר deber, from בדר dabar, to drive off, draw under, etc., which we translate pestilence from the Latin pestis, the plague, signifies any kind of disease by which an extraordinary mortality is occasioned, and which appears from the circumstances of the case to come immediately from God. The Israelites could not sacrifice in the land of Egypt, because the animals they were to offer to God were held sacred by the Egyptians; and they could not omit this duty, because it was essential to religion even before the giving of the law. Thus we find that Divine justice required the life of the animal for the life of the transgressor, and the people were conscious, if this were not done, that God would consume them with the pestilence or the sword. From the foundation of the world the true religion required sacrifice. Before, under, and after the law, this was deemed essential to salvation. Under the Christian dispensation Jesus is the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world; and being still the Lamb newly slain before the throne, no man cometh unto the Father but by him. "In this first application to Pharaoh, we observe," says Dr. Dodd, "that proper respectful submission which is due from subjects to their sovereign. They represent to him the danger they should be in by disobeying their God, but do not so much as hint at any punishment that would follow to Pharaoh."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 5:1-9

God will own his people, though poor and despised, and will find a time to plead their cause. Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore refused to obey him. Thus Pharaoh's pride, ambition, covetousness, and political knowledge, hardened him to his own destruction. What Moses and Aaron ask is very reasonable, only to go three days'…

Read the full comment on Exodus 5:1-9 →

Exodus 5:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּvai.Yo.me.Ruand they saidH559
אֱלֹהֵ֥י'e.lo.Hei[the] God ofH430
הָעִבְרִ֖יםha.'iv.Rimthe HebrewsH5680
נִקְרָ֣אnik.Ra'he has metH7122
עָלֵ֑ינוּ'a.Lei.nuwith usH5921
נֵ֣לֲכָהNe.la.khahlet us goH1980
נָּ֡אna'pleaseH4994
דֶּרֶךְ֩de.reKha journey ofH1870
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁתshe.Lo.shetthreeH7969
יָמִ֜יםya.MimdaysH3117
בַּמִּדְבָּ֗רba.mid.Barin the wildernessH4057
וְנִזְבְּחָה֙ve.niz.be.Chahand let us sacrificeH2076
לַֽיהוָ֣הla.Yah.wehto YahwehH3068
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nuGod ourH430
פֶּ֨ן\־Pen-lestH6435
יִפְגָּעֵ֔נוּyif.ga.'E.nuhe should fall on usH6293
בַּדֶּ֖בֶרba.De.verwith <the> pestilenceH1698
א֥וֹ'oorH176
בֶחָֽרֶב\׃ve.Cha.revwith the swordH2719

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 5:3

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Zechariah 14:16-19

    And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

  • Ezra 7:23

    Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

  • Ezekiel 6:11

    Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The God.
3:18
lest he.
De 28:21; 2Ki 17:25; 2Ch 30:8; Ezr 7:23; Eze 6:11; Zec 14:16-19

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 5:2

    And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.

  • Exodus 5:3

    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.

  • Exodus 5:4

    And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.

Read all of Exodus 5

Exodus 5:3 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y ellos dijeron: El Dios de los Hebreos nos ha encontrado: iremos, pues, ahora camino de tres días por el desierto, y sacrificaremos á Jehová nuestro Dios; porque no venga sobre nosotros con pestilencia ó con espada.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et ils dirent: Le Dieu des Hébreux s’est rencontré avec nous. Nous te prions, laisse-nous aller le chemin de trois jours dans le désert, et que nous sacrifiions à l’ Éternel, notre Dieu; de peur qu’il ne se jette sur nous par la peste ou par l’épée.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und sie sprachen: Der Gott der Hebräer ist uns begegnet. Laß uns doch drei Tagereisen weit in die Wüste ziehen und Jehova, unserem Gott, opfern, daß er uns nicht schlage mit der Pest oder mit dem Schwerte.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Dixeruntque: Deus Hebræorum vocavit nos, ut eamus viam trium dierum in solitudinem, et sacrificemus Domino Deo nostro: ne forte accidat nobis pestis aut gladius.