Exodus 32:13

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

World English Bible · Public Domain

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כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖י

kôwkâb

H3556

“like/as · stars of”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct

Appears 37× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 1:16

Full BDB Definition

Origin: probably from the same as H3522 (in the sense of rolling) or H3554 (in the sense of blazing)

TWOT: 942a

star - of Messiah, brothers, youth, numerous progeny, personification, God's omniscience (figuratively)

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 →

25: words
21: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖י star H3556 occurs in 37 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

7 verbs
11 nouns
1 pronoun
3 prepositions
3 particles

Verb forms

זְכֹ֡ר Qal · Imperative
נִשְׁבַּ֣עְתָּ Niphal · Perfect
וַתְּדַבֵּ֣ר Piel · Sequential Imperfect
אַרְבֶּה֙ Hiphil · Imperfect
אָמַ֗רְתִּי Qal · Perfect
אֶתֵּן֙ Qal · Imperfect
וְנָחֲל֖וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

זַרְעֲכֶ֔ם seed H2233 ×2
אֲשֶׁ֨ר which H834 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 51 words from the Hebrew and 54 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 25 Hebrew tokens and 46 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

Topical passages linked to Exodus 32:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he swore by himself,
Genesis 12:7 Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said, "I will give this land to your seed." He built an altar there to Yahweh, who appeared to him.
Genesis 22:16 and said, "I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
Genesis 15:5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."
Genesis 15:18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
Genesis 15:7 He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."
Genesis 35:11–12 God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your loins.
Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

Leviticus 26:42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land.
Deuteronomy 7:8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Genesis 13:15–16 for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever.
Genesis 26:3–4 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
Genesis 28:13–14 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed.
Deuteronomy 9:27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don't look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin,
Luke 1:54–55 He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,
Genesis 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing.

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 Exodus 32:13 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

זְכֹ֡ר לְאַבְרָהָם֩ לְיִצְחָ֨ק וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל עֲבָדֶ֗יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֣עְתָּ לָהֶם֮ בָּךְ֒ וַתְּדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵהֶ֔ם אַרְבֶּה֙ אֶֽת זַרְעֲכֶ֔ם כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְכָל הָאָ֨רֶץ הַזֹּ֜את אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמַ֗רְתִּי אֶתֵּן֙ לְזַרְעֲכֶ֔ם וְנָחֲל֖וּ לְעֹלָֽם

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 32:13 Septuagint · lemma form

μιμνήσκω αβρααμ καί ισαακ καί ἰακώβ ὁ σός οἰκέτης ὅς ὄμνυμι κατά σεαυτοῦ καί λαλέω πρός αὐτός λέγω πολυπληθύνω ὁ σπέρμα σύ ὡσεί ὁ ἄστρον ὁ οὐρανός ὁ πλῆθος καί πᾶς ὁ γῆ οὗτος ὅς εἶπον δίδωμι ὁ σπέρμα αὐτός καί καταἔχω αὐτός εἰς ὁ αἰών

remembering Abraam and Isaac and Jacob your servants, to whom you have sworn by yourself, and have spoken to them, saying, I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven for multitude, and all this land which you spoke of to give to them, so that they shall possess it for ever.

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)

אִדְכַּר לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַבְדָיךְ דִי קַיֶמְתָּא לְהוֹן בְּמֵימְרָךְ וּמַלֶלְתָּא עִמְהוֹן אַסְגֵי יָת בְּנֵיכוֹן כְּכוֹכְבֵי שְׁמַיָא וְכָל אַרְעָא הָדָא דִי אֲמָרִית אֶתֵּן לִבְנֵיכוֹן וְיַחְסְנוּן לַעֲלָם:

(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)

הֱוֵי דְכִיר לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיִשְרָאֵל עַבְדָךְ דְּקַיֵּימְתָּא לְהוֹן בְּמֵימְרָךְ וּמַלֵּילְתָּא לְהוֹן אַסְגֵי יַת בְּנֵיכוֹן הֵי כְּכוֹכְבֵי שְׁמַיָא וְכָל אַרְעָא הָדָא דַאֲמָרִית לְכוֹן אֵיתֵּן לִבְנֵיכוֹן וְיֶחְסְנוּן לְעָלָם

Remember Abraham, and Izhak, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou didst swear in Thy Word and didst say to them, I will multiply your children as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have told you will I give to your sons, and they shall inherit for ever.

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 32:13 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

Exo 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit [it] for ever.

Ver. 13. Remember Abraham.] Here Moses neither invocateth the patriarchs, nor allegeth their merits, but reminds God of his promise to them, and presseth the performance. In the want of other rhetoric, let Christians in their prayers urge this with repetition. Lord, thou hast promised, thou hast promised. Put the promises into suit, and you have anything. God cannot deny himself.

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.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, thy promise made to Abraham.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

13. to whom, &c.] See Gen_22:16 (the only place in Genesis where the covenant is confirmed with an oath).

I will multiply, &c.] Gen_22:17; cf. also Exo_15:5; Exo_26:4.

and all this land, &c.] Gen_12:7; Gen_13:15; Gen_15:7; Gen_15:18; Gen_26:4; Gen_28:13 (all JE).

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

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants,.... The covenant he made with them, the promise he had made unto them, with an oath annexed to it:

to whom thou swarest by thine own self; which he did, because he could swear by no greater; and for the confirmation of his covenant and promise, see Gen 22:16.

and saidst unto them; for what was said to Abraham was repeated and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob:

I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven; multitudes of which are out of sight, and cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor numbered:

and all this land that I have spoken of; the land of Canaan, then inhabited by several nations:

will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever; as long as they are a people, a body politic, and especially while obedient to the divine will; but should they be now cut off, this promise would become of no effect: this is the great argument Moses makes use of, and the most forcible one.

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

Thy servants. Thus God honours his friends, and rewards their merits, which are the effects of his grace. (Worthington)

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).

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Remember Abraham - Lord, if Israel be cut off, what will become of the promise?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

זכור לאברהם (lit., remember for Abraham) — If they have transgressed the Ten Commandments, their father Abraham was tried by ten trials and has not yet received his reward for them. Give it to him now — remember for him this merit — and let the ten trials he successfully withstood countervail the infringement of the Ten Commandments (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 24; Shemot Rabbah 44:4).

לאברהם ליצחק ולישראל REMEMBER FOR ABRAHAM, FOR ISAAC, AND FOR ISRAEL — If they are to be punished with death by burning, remember for Abraham his merit that he gave himself over to be burnt for Your sake (for the sanctification of the Divine Name) in Ur (in the fire) of the Chaldees; if with death by the sword, remember for Isaac the merit that he stretched forth his neck to the knife on the occasion of the “Binding”. If by exile, remember for Jacob the merit that he went into exile to Haran (leaving the paternal roof in order to fulfil his father’s command). If, however, they cannot be saved by their ancestors merit what is the good of You saying to me, “and I will make of thee a great nation”? — if a chair with three legs (the merits of the three patriarchs) cannot stand before You in the moment of Your wrath, how much the less a chair with only one leg (the merits of myself alone) (Berakhot 32a).

אשר נשבעת להם בך TO WHOM THOU SWAREST BY THINE OWN SELF — Thou didst not swear to them by a thing which is perishable — neither by the heavens nor by the earth, nor by the mountains, nor by the hills — but by Thy very Self, Who endurest forever and Whose oath endures for ever. For it is stated that God said to Abraham, (Genesis 22:16, 17) “By Myself have I sworn saith the Lord … [I will greatly multiply thy seed]”; to Isaac it was said, (Genesis 26:3, 4) “and I will perform the oath which I sware by Myself unto Abraham thy father … [and I will multiply thy seed]”; and to Jacob it was said, (Genesis 35:11) “I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply”; thus to him also God swore by Himself — by God Almighty (Shemot Rabbah 44:23).

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 25 words (21 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kôwkâb (“star”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “star” (kôwkâb) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Genesis 1:16, which shares the word «star», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “seed” (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?
«זְכֹ֡ר» is a Qal Imperative verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 25 Hebrew ↔ 46 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 22 words in this verse.
“seed” occurs 2× in this single verse.
21 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 25 words in this verse.