Exodus 14:2

Nova Vulgata

"Lo quere filiis Israel: Reversi castrametentur e regione Phihahiroth, quae est inter Magdolum et mare contra Beelsephon; in conspectu eius castra ponetis super mare.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
inirent bellum contra Bara regem Sodomorum, et contra Bersa regem Gomorrh�, et contra Sennaab regem Adam�, et contra Semeber regem Seboim, contraque regem Bal�, ipsa est Segor.

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Loquere filiis Isra�l: Reversi castrametentur e regione Phihahiroth, qu� est inter Magdalum et mare contra Beelsephon: in conspectu ejus castra ponetis super mare.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that they: Exodus 14:9, Exodus 13:17, Exodus 13:18, Numbers 33:7, Numbers 33:8

Pi-hahiroth: Pi̇hachiroth, "the mouth of Chiroth," as it is rendered by the LXX. Dr. Shaw is of opinion, that Chiroth denotes the valley which extends from the wilderness of Etham to the Red Sea. "This valley," he observes, "ends at the sea in a small bay made by the eastern extremities of the mountains (of Gewoubee and Attackah, between which the valley lies) which I have been describing, and is called Tiah-Beni-Israel, i.e., the road of the Israelites, by a tradition that is still kept up by the Arabs, of their having passed through it; so it is also called Baideah, from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

Migdol: The word Migdol signifies a tower, and hence some have supposed that it was a fortress which served to defend the bay. But the LXX render it בדהשכןע, Magdolus, which is mentioned by Herodotus, Hecateus, and others, and is expressly said by Stephanus (de Urb.) to be נןכיע ידץנפןם, "a city of Egypt." This Bochart conjectures to have been the same as Migdol - see the parallel passages. Jeremiah 44:1, Jeremiah 46:14, Ezekiel 29:10, Heb

Baalzephon: This may have been the name of a town or city in which Baal was worshipped; and probably called zephon, from being situated on the north point of the Red sea, near the present Suez.

Reciprocal: 1 Corinthians 1:25 - the foolishness

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn,.... Not return to Egypt, or to the place, or towards the place from whence they came, but turn off, out of the road in which they were; for, as a late traveller says a,

"there were two roads, through which the Israelites might have been conducted from Cairo (which he supposes may be Rameses) to Pihahiroth. One of them lies through the valleys, as they are now called, of Jendily, Rumaleah, and Baideah, bounded on each side by the mountains of the lower Thebais; the other lies higher, having the northern range of these mountains (the mountains of Mocattee) running parallel with it on the right hand, and the desert of the Egyptian Arabia, which lies all the way open to the land of the Philistines, on the left, (see Exodus 13:17) about the middle of this range we may turn short on our right hand into the valley of Baideah, through a remarkable breach or discontinuation, in which we afterwards continued to the very banks of the Red sea; this road then, through the valley of Baideah, which is some hours longer than the other open road, which leads directly from Cairo to Suez, was in all probability the very road which the Israelites took to Pihahiroth, on the banks of the Red sea.''

And again he says b, this valley ends at the sea in a small bay, made by the eastern extremities of the mountains, and is called "Tiah beni Israel", i.e. the road of the Israelites, from a tradition of the Arabs, of their having passed through it; as it is also called Baideah from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen:

and encamp before Pihahiroth: which was sixteen miles from Etham c, and by some d thought to be the same with the city of Heroes (or Heroopolis), on the extreme part of the Arabic gulf, or the Phagroriopolis, placed by Strabo e near the same place: according to the above traveller f, Pihahiroth was the mouth, or the most advanced part of the valley of Baideah to the eastward toward the Red sea; with which Jarchi in some measure agrees, who says Pihahiroth is Pithom, now so called, because the Israelites became free: they (Hahiroth) are two rocks, and the valley between them is called (Pi) the mouth of the rocks: so Dr. Shaw observes g; the word may be deduced from חר, "a hole" or "gullet", and by a latitude common in those cases, be rendered a narrow "defile", road or passage, such as the valley of Baideah has been described: but as the Israelites were properly delivered at this place from their captivity and fear of the Egyptians, Exodus 14:13 we may rather suppose that Hhiroth denotes the place where they were restored to their liberty; as Hhorar and Hhiroth are words of the like sort in the Chaldee: but another very learned man h says, that in the Egyptian language Pihahiroth signifies a place where grew great plenty of grass and herbs, and was contiguous to the Red sea, and was like that on the other shore of the sea, the Arabian, which Diodorus Siculus i speaks of as a pleasant green field:

between Migdol and the sea; which signifies a tower, and might be one: there was a city of this name in Egypt, and in those parts, but whether the same with this is not certain, Jeremiah 44:1

over against Baalzephon; which the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem take to be an "idol": and so does Jarchi, and say it was the only one left of the idols of Egypt; see Exodus 12:12 and so some Christian as well as Jewish writers suppose it to be; and that it was as a watch, or guard, or amulet, to keep fugitives from going out of the land: but by Ezekiel the tragedian k it is called a city; and so by Josephus l, who says they came to Baalzephon the third day, a place situated by the Red sea; which is most likely, and it is highly probable that this and Migdol were two fortified places, which guarded the mouth of the valley, or the straits which led to the Red sea: Artapanus m the Heathen historian agrees with Josephus in saying it was the third day when they came to the Red sea:

before it shall ye encamp by the sea; and there wait till Pharaoh came up to them.

a Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 307. Ed. 2. b lb. p. 309. c Bunting's Travels, p. 82. d See the Universal History, vol. 3. p. 387. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 553. f Shaw, ib. p. 310. g Ut supra. (a) h Jablonski de Terra Goshen, Dissert. 5. sect. 9. i Bibliothec. c. 3. p. 175. k Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 29. p. 444. l Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 1. m Apud Euseb. ib. c. 27. p. 436.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That they turn - i. e. away from the wilderness, and go southwards, to the west of the Bitter Lakes, which completely separated them from the desert.

Pi-hahiroth - The place is generally identified with Ajrud, a fortress with a very large well of good water, situated at the foot of an elevation commanding the plain which extends to Suez, at a distance of four leagues. The journey from Etham might occupy two, or even three days.

Migdol - A tower, or fort, the “Maktal” of Egyptian monuments; it is probably to be identified with Bir Suweis, about two miles from Suez.

Baal-zephon - The name under which the Phoenicians, who had a settlement in Lower Egypt at a very ancient period, worshipped their chief Deity. There can be no doubt it was near Kolsum, or Suez. From the text it is clear that the encampment of the Israelites extended over the plain from Pi-hahiroth: their headquarters being between Bir Suweis and the sea opposite to Baal-Zephon. At Ajrud the road branches off in two directions, one leading to the wilderness by a tract, now dry, but in the time of Moses probably impassable (see next note); the other leading to Suez, which was doubtless followed by the Israelites.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 14:2. Encamp before Pi-hahiroth — פי ההירת pi hachiroth, the mouth, strait, or bay of Chiroth. Between Migdol, מגדל migdol, the tower, probably a fortress that served to defend the bay. Over against Baal-zephon, בעל צפן baal tsephon, the lord or master of the watch, probably an idol temple, where a continual guard, watch, or light was kept up for the defence of one part of the haven, or as a guide to ships. Dr. Shaw thinks that chiroth may denote the valley which extended itself from the wilderness of Etham to the Red Sea, and that the part in which the Israelites encamped was called Pi-hachiroth, i.e., the mouth or bay of Chiroth. See his Travels, p. 310, and his account at the end of Exodus.