Deuteronomy 9:12

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Deuteronomy 9:12 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Deuteronomy 9:12 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/deuteronomy/9/12.

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Yahweh said to me, Arise, get you down quickly from hence; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Yahweh said to me, Arise, get you down quickly from hence; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And Yahweh said to me, ‘Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought out from Egypt, have become corrupted. They have quickly turned aside from the path that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast figure.’

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

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Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Yahweh said to me, Arise, get you down quickly from hence; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And the Lord said vnto me, Arise, get thee downe quickly from hence: for thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt, haue corrupt their wayes: they are soone turned out of the way, which I commanded them: they haue made them a molten image.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    and Jehovah saith unto me, Rise, go down, hasten from this, for thy people hath done corruptly, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt; they have turned aside hastily out of the way which I have commanded them -- they have made to themselves a molten thing!
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then YHWH says to me, Rise, go down, hurry from here, for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have done corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I have commanded them—they have made a molten thing for themselves!
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the path that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast figure.'
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And Yahweh said to me, ‘Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought out from Egypt, have become corrupted. They have quickly turned aside from the path that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast figure.’
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them: they have made for themselves a molten image.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    The LORD said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And the LORD said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    The Lord told me, “Hurry! Go down immediately, because your people that you led out of Egypt, are committing a terrible sin. They have disobeyed what I told them so quickly! They have made themselves an idol using molten metal.”
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And the Lord said to me, Get up now, and go down quickly from this place; for the people you have taken out of Egypt have given themselves over to evil; they have quickly been turned from the way in which I gave them orders to go; they have made themselves a metal image.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And the LORD said unto me: 'Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have dealt corruptly; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.'

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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מַהֵר֙
mahêr
H4118
“swift”
Verb, Piel, Infinitive Absolute
Part of Speech
Verb
Stem
Piel
Form
Infinitive Absolute
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H4116

TWOT: 1152a , 1152b

hurrying, speedy, swift, hastening (adjective) - quickly, speedily (adverb)
  1. וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ʼâmar H559 “and · to say” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  2. יְהוָ֜ה Yᵉhôvâh H3068 “LORD” Noun, Proper
  3. אֵלַ֗י ʼêl H413 “to · me” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  4. ק֣וּם qûwm H6965 “rise” Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  5. רֵ֤ד yârad H3381 “go down” Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  6. מִזֶּ֔ה zeh H2088 “from · this” Preposition + Pronoun, Demonstrative, Masculine, Singular
  7. כִּ֚י kîy H3588 “that” Conjunction
  8. שִׁחֵ֣ת shâchath H7843 “to destroy” Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  9. עַמְּךָ֔ ʻam H5971 “people · your” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  10. אֲשֶׁ֥ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  11. הוֹצֵ֖אתָ yâtsâʼ H3318 “to go out” Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  12. מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם Mitsrayim H4714 “from · Egypt” Preposition + Noun, Proper
  13. סָ֣רוּ çûwr H5493 “to turn aside” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural
  14. מַהֵ֗ר mahêr H4118 “swift” Verb, Piel, Infinitive Absolute
  15. מִן min H4480 “from” Preposition
  16. הַדֶּ֨רֶךְ֙ derek H1870 “the · way” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute
  17. אֲשֶׁ֣ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  18. צִוִּיתִ֔ם tsâvâh H6680 “to command · them” Verb, Piel, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  19. עָשׂ֥וּ ʻâsâh H6213 “to do” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural
  20. מַסֵּכָֽה maççêkâh H4541 “molten image” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

22
words
19
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is מַהֵר֙ swift H4118 — appearing just 18 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מַהֵר֙ swift H4118 occurs in 17 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 10 verbs
  • 5 nouns
  • 1 pronoun
  • 3 prepositions
  • 1 conjunction
  • 2 particles

Verb forms

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • ק֣וּם Qal · Imperative
  • רֵ֤ד Qal · Imperative
  • מַהֵר֙ Piel · Infinitive Absolute
  • שִׁחֵ֣ת Piel · Perfect
  • הוֹצֵ֖אתָ Hiphil · Perfect
  • סָ֣רוּ Qal · Perfect
  • מַהֵ֗ר Piel · Infinitive Absolute
  • צִוִּיתִ֔ם Piel · Perfect
  • עָשׂ֥וּ Qal · Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • מַהֵר֙ swift H4118 ×2
  • אֲשֶׁ֥ר which H834 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 45 words from the Hebrew and 46 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 22 Hebrew tokens and 31 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

11

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 9:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Exodus 32:7–8 Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
  • Deuteronomy 31:29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
  • Judges 2:17 Yet they didn't listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; [but] they didn't do so.
  • Hosea 6:4 "Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, And like the dew that disappears early.
  • Galatians 1:6 I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel;
  • Genesis 6:11–12 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
  • Deuteronomy 4:16 Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
  • Deuteronomy 9:16 I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you had made you a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.
  • Deuteronomy 32:5 They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish; [They are] a perverse and crooked generation.
  • Psalms 78:57 But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
  • Jude 1:10 But these speak evil of whatever things they don't know. What they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 9:12 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י ק֣וּם רֵ֤ד מַהֵר֙ מִזֶּ֔ה כִּ֚י שִׁחֵ֣ת עַמְּךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הוֹצֵ֖אתָ מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם סָ֣רוּ מַהֵ֗ר מִן הַדֶּ֨רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּיתִ֔ם עָשׂ֥וּ לָהֶ֖ם מַסֵּכָֽה

Yahweh said to me, Arise, get you down quickly from hence; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 9:12 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον κύριος πρός ἐγώ ἀναἵστημι καταβαίνω ὁ τάχος ἐντεῦθεν ὅτι ἀνομέω ὁ λαός σύ ὅς ἐκἄγω ἐκ γῆ αἴγυπτος παραβαίνω ταχύ ἐκ ὁ ὁδός ὅς ἐντέλλομαι αὐτός ποιέω ἑαυτοῦ χώνευμα

And the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed; they have gone aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, and have made themselves a molten image.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

2

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וַאֲמַר יְיָ לִי קוּם חוּת בִּפְרִיעַ מִכָּא אֲרֵי חַבִּיל עַמָךְ דִי אַפֶּקְתָּא מִמִצְרָיִם סָטוּ בִּפְרִיעַ מִן אָרְחָא דִי פַקֶדְתִּנוּן עֲבָדוּ לְהוֹן מַתְּכָא

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וַאֲמַר יְיָ לִי קוּם חוּת בִּפְרִיעַ מִכָּא אֲרוּם חַבִּילוּ אָרְחַתְהוֹן עַמָּא דְאִתְקַרְיָין עַל שְׁמָךְ דְּאַפֵּיקְתָּא מֵאַרַע דְּמִצְרָיִם סָטוּ בִּפְרִיעַ מִן אוֹרְחָא דְפַקֵידְתִּינוּן בְּסִינַי לָא תַעַבְּדוּן לְכוֹן צְלַם וְצוּרָה וַעֲבָדוּ לְהוֹן מַתְּכָא

    the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence, for the people who are called by thy name, whom I led forth from the land of Mizraim, have corrupted their way; {Onq., Nf. MT; they have soon gone aside from the way that I commanded them on Sinai, saying, Make not to you a likeness or image; for they have made for themselves a molten (form).}

    Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 9:12 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 9:12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted [themselves]; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

Ver. 12. Arise] From off thy knees; the petitioner’s posture. St James, they say, {a} had knees as hard as camels’ knees, with continual kneeling: and Hilarion was found dead in his oratory with knees bent, eyes and hands lifted up. {b} Father Latimer, during his imprisonment, was so constant and instant in prayer, that ofttimes he was not able to rise without help. {c}

{a} Euseb.

{b} Jerome.

{c} Act. and Mon., fol. 1579.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

9:12 The type of idol (from a Hebrew word meaning cast or pour) mentioned here was formed by pouring liquid metal into a mold (Exod 32:1-4). Other idols were made of carved wood, stone, clay, or precious metals hammered in thin sheets over wooden cores.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

So soon as man declineth from the obedience of God, his ways are corrupt.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people . . . have corrupted themselves--With a view to humble them effectually, Moses proceeds to particularize some of the most atrocious instances of their infidelity. He begins with the impiety of the golden calf--an impiety which, while their miraculous emancipation from Egypt, the most stupendous displays of the Divine Majesty that were exhibited on the adjoining mount, and the recent ratification of the covenant by which they engaged to act as the people of God, were fresh in memory, indicated a degree of inconstancy or debasement almost incredible.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 12. Thy people - have corrupted themselves] Debased themselves by making and worshipping an Egyptian idol. See Clarke on Ex 32:1, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Arise, get thee down.—The words recorded here and in Deu_9:13-14, are given at length in Exo_32:7, &c. Moses’ intercession at that time is recorded also.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

12. Taken from E, Exo_32:7-8 a (on which see notes) with the addition of quickly from here and the substitution of brought forth (D’s favourite expression) for brought up; and the omission of calf.

corrupted themselves] Deu_4:16; Deu_4:25, Deu_31:29 also Pl. passages: while the Sg. passages use one form of the verb only in the sense to destroy: Deu_4:31, Deu_10:10, Deu_20:19-20 : cp. Deu_9:26.

the way] See on Deu_5:33. Here the particular reference is to the 2nd commandment.

a molten image] Heb. a molten (thing), Exo_32:4; Exo_32:8 molten calf. Steuern. takes this v. as another doublet superfluous before 13, and, along with Deu_9:10 when compared with the expanded Heb. text of Exo_32:7-9 (of which the LXX omits parts), illustrative of the manner in which an editor expanded parallel passages with each other’s contents. But the superfluity of the v. is not so apparent. Some mention of the molten image seems necessary here.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the Lord said unto me,.... The omniscient God, who knew what was doing in the camp of Israel, though Moses did not, of which he informs him:

arise, get thee down quickly from hence; from the mount where he was; and the word "arise" does not suppose him to be sitting or lying along, neither of which postures would have been suitable, considering in whose presence he was; but is only expressive of urgency and haste of his departure; it is not used in Exo 32:7.

for thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; their way, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, by idolatry, than which nothing is more corrupting and defiling; the Lord calls them not his people, but the people of Moses, being highly displeased with them; and ascribes their coming out of Egypt to Moses the instrument, and not to himself, as if he repented of bringing them from thence:

they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them: it being but about six weeks ago, that the command forbidding idolatry, the sin they had fallen into, had been given them:

and they have made them a molten image; the image of a calf made of melted gold.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Have quickly. Hebrew, "have become corrupt; they have quickly abandoned the way which I commanded them." (Haydock) --- Septuagint, "the people hath sinned....they have quickly transgressed," &c. (Calmet) --- Idol. Protestants have "image." The Hebrews had called the similitude of a calf their god, Exodus xxxii. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

12-14. Get thee down quickly — The words of Jehovah are taken almost literally from Exo_33:7-10.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 12-14. (cf. Exo_32:7-10) Let me alone; literally, Desist from me, i.e. Do not by pleadings and entreaties attempt to prevent me; in Exo_32:10 the expression used is, "Let me rest; leave me in quiet (yli hjyNh) cease to urge me."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 22 words (19 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mahêr (“swift”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “swift” (mahêr) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. How does Exodus 32:8, which shares the word «swift», read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “swift” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  5. «וַיֹּ֨אמֶר» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  6. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.