Exode 5:3

La Bible Ostervald

Et ils dirent: Le Dieu des Hébreux est venu au-devant de nous; permets-nous d'aller le chemin de trois jours dans le désert, pour que nous sacrifiions à l'Éternel notre Dieu, de peur qu'il ne nous frappe par la peste ou par l'épée.

Parallel Translations

Darby's French Translation
Et ils dirent: Le Dieu des H�breux s'est rencontr� avec nous. Nous te prions, laisse-nous aller le chemin de trois jours dans le d�sert, et que nous sacrifiions � l'�ternel, notre Dieu; de peur qu'il ne se jette sur nous par la peste ou par l'�p�e.

Louis Segond (1910)
Ils dirent: Le Dieu des H�breux nous est apparu. Permets-nous de faire trois journ�es de marche dans le d�sert, pour offrir des sacrifices � l'Eternel, afin qu'il ne nous frappe pas de la peste ou de l'�p�e.

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Et ils dirent : le Dieu des H�breux est venu au-devant de nous. Nous te prions que nous allions le chemin de trois jours au d�sert, et que nous sacrifiions � l'Eternel notre Dieu; de peur qu'il ne se jette sur nous par la mortalit�, ou par l'�p�e.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

The God: Exodus 3:18

lest he: Deuteronomy 28:21, 2 Kings 17:25, 2 Chronicles 30:8, Ezra 7:23, Ezekiel 6:11, Zechariah 14:16-19

Reciprocal: Genesis 22:4 - third Exodus 7:16 - The Lord Exodus 9:3 - murrain Exodus 10:9 - a feast Numbers 14:12 - smite 1 Kings 13:8 - If Job 15:25 - strengtheneth 2 Corinthians 11:22 - Hebrews

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us,.... Perceiving that the name Jehovah was unknown to him, and treated by him in a scornful manner, they leave it out, and only say, "the God of the Hebrews": a people that dwelt in his country, he well knew by this name, and could not be ignorant that their God was different from his; and it was he that had met Moses and Aaron; they did not seek to him to be sent on this errand, but he appeared to them as he did to Moses at Horeb, and to Aaron in Egypt. Some render it, "the God of the Hebrews is called upon us" f; his name was called upon them, or they were called by his name; they were his servants and worshippers, and therefore under obligation to attend to what he enjoined them:

let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert: a request which was made in a very humble and modest manner, and not at all extravagant, nor anything dangerous and disadvantageous to him; for now they speak as of themselves, and therefore humbly entreat him; they do not ask to be wholly and for ever set free, only to go for three days; they do not propose to meet and have their rendezvous in any part of his country, much less in his metropolis, where he night fear they would rise in a body, and seize upon his person and treasure, only to go into the wilderness, to Mount Sinai there. And hence it appears, that the distance between Egypt and Mount Sinai was three days' journey, to go the straightest way, as Aben Ezra observes:

and sacrifice unto the Lord our God: which is what was meant by keeping a feast; some sacrifices the people, as well as the priests, feasted on; this was not a civil, but a religious concern:

lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword: this they urge as a reason to have their request granted, taken from the danger they should be exposed unto, should they not be allowed to go and offer sacrifice to God; though by this they might suggest both loss and danger to Pharaoh, in order to stir him up the more to listen to their request; for should they be smitten with pestilence, or the sword, he would lose the benefit of their bond service, which would be a considerable decline in his revenues; and besides, if God would be so displeased with the Israelites for not going, and not sacrificing, when they were detained, how much more displeased would he be with Pharaoh and the Egyptians for hindering them?

f נקרא עלינו "est invocatus super nos", Montanus. So some in Vatablus, Drusius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Three days’ journey - See the Exodus 3:18 note.

With pestilence, or with the sword - This shows that the plague was well known to the ancient Egyptians. The reference to the sword is equally natural, since the Israelites occupied the eastern district, which was frequently disturbed by the neighboring Shasous.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 5:3. Three days' journey — The distance from Goshen to Sinai; see Exodus 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, c., 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."