Exodus 19:25

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

So Moses went down to the people, and told them.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וַיֵּ֥רֶד

yârad

H3381

“and · to go down”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 381× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 11:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 909

to go down, descend, decline, march down, sink down - (Qal) - to go or come down - to sink - to be prostrated - to come down (of revelation) - (Hiphil) - to bring down - to send down - to take down - to lay prostrate - to let down - (Hophal) - to be brought down - to be taken down

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 →

6: words
5: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
2 nouns
2 prepositions

Verb forms

וַיֵּ֥רֶד Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיֹּ֖אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֶל to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 10 words from the Hebrew and 11 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 6 Hebrew tokens and 9 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.

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 Exodus 19:25 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֵּ֥רֶד מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶל הָעָ֑ם וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֲלֵהֶֽם

So Moses went down to the people, and told them.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 19:25 Septuagint · lemma form

καταβαίνω δέ μωυσῆς πρός ὁ λαός καί εἶπον αὐτός

And Moses went down to the people, and spoke to them.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

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)

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.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּנְחַת משֶׁה לְעַמָא וַאֲמַר לְהוֹן:

(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.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּנְחַת משֶׁה מִן טַוְורָא לְוַת עַמָּא וַאֲמַר לְהוֹן קְרִיבוּ קַבִּילוּ אוֹרַיְיתָא עִם עֲשַרְתֵּי דִבְּרַיָא

And Mosheh went down from the mountain to the people, and said to them, Draw nigh and hear the Law with Ten Words.

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 Exodus 19:25 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 →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

25. and said unto them] The paraphrase ‘told’ is illegitimate. The word always means to ‘say’; and is followed regularly by the words said. The narrative is here broken off in the middle. What originally followed must have been the substance of the commands given in vv. 21–24. The next excerpts from J are Exo_24:1-2; Exo_24:9-11.

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

So Moses went down to the people,.... As the Lord commanded him:

and spake unto them: charging them to keep their distance, and not presume to pass the line he had drawn, or the foss or fence he had made: in the Jerusalem Targum it is added,"come and receive the ten words;''the decalogue or ten commands; and the Targum of Jonathan,"come and receive the law with the ten words;''the ten commandments of the law, which are delivered in the following chapter.

Next: Exodus Chapter 20

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

The Pulpit Commentary

So Moses went down. After the sharp rebuke addressed to him in ver. 24, Moses made no further resistance, but returned to the camp, delivered the warning to priests and people, and having so done reascended the mount with Aaron.

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

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

So Moses

The Mosaic Covenant,

(1) given to Israel

(2) in three divisions, each essential to the others, and together forming the Mosaic Covenant, viz.: the Commandments, expressing the righteous will of God Exo 20:1-26 the "judgments," governing the social life of Israel; Exo 21:1 to Exo 24:11 and the "ordinances," governing the religious life of Israel; Exo 24:12 to Exo 31:18. These three elements form "the law," as that phrase is generically used in the New Testament (e.g.) Mat 5:17; Mat 5:18. The Commandments and the ordinances formed one religious system. The Commandments were a "ministry of condemnation" and of "death" 2Co 3:7-9 the ordinances gave, in the high priest, a representative of the people with Jehovah; and in the sacrifices a "cover" (see "Atonement," (See Scofield "Lev 16:6") for their sins in anticipation of the Cross; Heb 5:1-3; Heb 9:6-9; Rom 3:25; Rom 3:26. The Christian is not under the conditional Mosaic Covenant of works, the law, but under the unconditional New Covenant of grace.; Rom 3:21-27; Rom 6:14; Rom 6:15; Gal 2:16; Gal 3:10-14; Gal 3:16-18; Gal 3:24-26; Gal 4:21-31; Heb 10:11-17. See NEW COVENANT.

(See Scofield "Heb 8:8")

See,for the other seven covenants:

EDENIC (See Scofield "Gen 1:28"); ADAMIC See Scofield "Gen 3:15"; NOAHIC See Scofield "Gen 9:1"; ABRAHAMIC See Scofield "Gen 15:18"; PALESTINIAN See Scofield "Deu 30:3"; DAVIDIC See Scofield "2Sa 7:16"; NEW See Scofield "Heb 8:8".

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ויאמר אליהם AND HE SPOKE UNTO THEM this warning.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

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.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 6 words (5 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yârad (“to go down”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to go down” (yârad) shape what this verse is saying?
What does the repetition of “to” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«וַיֵּ֥רֶד» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 9 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 3 words in this verse.
“to” occurs 2× in this single verse.
5 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.