כִּ֛י אִם מָאֵ֥ן אַתָּ֖ה לְשַׁלֵּ֑חַ וְעוֹדְךָ֖ מַחֲזִ֥יק בָּֽם
For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still,
World English Bible · Public Domain
Exodus 9:2
Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Exodus 9:2 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.
English Translation
For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still,
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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.
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World English Bible Public Domain
For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still,
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King James Version Public Domain
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Surely if you are unwilling to let go, but are still holding on to them,
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Show all 18 translations
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
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World English Bible Public Domain
For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still,
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Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
But if you continue to restrain them and refuse to let them go,
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Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
But if you continue to restrain them and refuse to let them go,
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King James Version Public Domain
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
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American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
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Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
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Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
But if thou refuse to let them goe, and wilt yet holde them still,
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Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
But if thou refuse, and withhold them still:
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Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
for, if thou art refusing to send away, and art still keeping hold upon them,
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Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
for if you are refusing to send [them] away, and are still keeping hold on them,
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Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
But if you refuse to let them go, if you still keep them back,
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Surely if you are unwilling to let go, but are still holding on to them,
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Darby Bible Public Domain
For if thou refuse to let them go, and shalt retain them still,
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World Messianic Bible Public Domain
For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still,
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Webster's Bible Public Domain
For if thou shalt refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
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Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
If you refuse to let them go and keep holding on to them,
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Bible in Basic English Public Domain
For if you will not let them go, but still keep them in your power,
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JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
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
More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →
Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →
מָאֵ֥ן
mâʼên
H3986
“refusing”
Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- Appears 4× in the Hebrew Bible
- First appears at Exodus 8:2
- Part of Speech
- Verb
- Stem
- Piel
- Form
- Participle Active
- Gender
- Masculine
- Number
- Singular
- State
- Absolute
Full BDB Definition
refusing, unwilling to obey
- כִּ֛י kîy H3588 “that” Conjunction
- אִם ʼim H518 “if” Conjunction
- מָאֵ֥ן mâʼên H3986 “refusing” Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- אַתָּ֖ה ʼattâh H859 “you” Pronoun, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- לְשַׁלֵּ֑חַ shâlach H7971 “to send” Preposition + Verb, Piel, Infinitive Construct
- וְעוֹדְךָ֖ ʻôwd H5750 “and · still · your” Conjunction + Adverb + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
- מַחֲזִ֥יק châzaq H2388 “strengthening” Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, 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 →
- 8
- words
- 7
- distinct lemmas
- Pentateuch
- section
Notable vocabulary
The rarest word here is מָאֵ֥ן refusing H3986 — appearing just 4 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.
Shared distinctive vocabulary
מָאֵ֥ן refusing H3986 occurs in 4 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
- 3 verbs
- 1 pronoun
- 1 preposition
- 2 conjunctions
- 1 adverb
Verb forms
- מָאֵ֥ן Piel · Participle Active
- לְשַׁלֵּ֑חַ Piel · Infinitive Construct
- מַחֲזִ֥יק Hiphil · Participle Active
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 13 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 8 Hebrew tokens and 14 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
12Topical passages linked to Exodus 9:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
- Exodus 8:2 If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs:
- Exodus 4:23 and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"
- Exodus 10:4 Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country,
- Leviticus 26:14–16 "'But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments;
- Leviticus 26:23–24 "'If by these things you won't be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me;
- Leviticus 26:27–28 "'If you in spite of this won't listen to me, but walk contrary to me;
- Psalms 7:11–12 God is a righteous judge, Yes, a God who has indignation every day.
- Psalms 68:21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies, The hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.
- Isaiah 1:20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."
- Romans 2:8 but to those who are self-seeking, and don't obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
- Revelation 2:21–22 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
- Revelation 16:9 People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory.
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.
εἰ μέν οὖν μή βούλομαι ἐκ ἀποστέλλω ὁ λαός ἐγώ ἀλλά ἔτι ἐνκρατέω αὐτός
If however you will not send my people away, but yet detain 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.
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Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
אֲרֵי אִם סָרִיב אַתְּ לְשַׁלָחָא וְעַד כְּעַן אַתְּ מַתְקֵף בְּהוֹן:
(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.
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Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
אֲרוּם אִין מְסָרֵב אַנְתְּ לְמִפְטוֹר וְעַד כְּדוֹן אַנְתְּ מַתְקִיף בְּהוֹן
But if thou refuse to release, and hitherto thou hast constrained them,
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.
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 8 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mâʼên (“refusing”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Discussion questions
- What does “refusing” (mâʼên) contribute to the verse as a whole?
- How does Exodus 8:2, which shares the word «refusing», read alongside this verse?
- These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
- «מָאֵ֥ן» is a Piel Participle Active verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
- Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?
Things to notice
- This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
- These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
- 7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.
Commentary
Notes on Exodus 9:2 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
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.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)
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.