He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ”
Parallel Translations
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He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ”
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And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
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And he said unto them: 'Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Exodus 32:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 25:5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”
- Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
- Deuteronomy 33:8-9 About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah. He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant.
- Exodus 32:26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
- Exodus 32:29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today.”
- Numbers 25:7-12 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.
- 2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This fact did so please God, that he turned…
This fact did so please God, that he turned the curse of Jacob against Levi to a blessing, Deut. 33:9.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith…
Exo 32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, [and] go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Ver. 27. Slay every man his brother.] Not all that they met with, for so they might have slain the innocent; but all that were chief in the transgression. In the war against the Waldenses in France, the Pope’s great army took one populous city and put to the sword sixty thousand, among whom were many of their own Catholics. For Arnoldus the Cistercian Abbot, being the Pope’s Legate in this great war, commanded the soldiers saying, Caedite eos: novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius: Kill them one with another: for the Lord knoweth who are his. {a} This was fine Popish justice.
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{a} Caesar Heisterbuchensis, Hist., lib. v. cap. 21.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The meaning is, slay every principal offender whom you…
The meaning is, slay every principal offender whom you meet with, without any indulgence or exception, though brother, or companion, or neighbour. There was no fear of killing the innocent in this case, because,
1. The people were generally guilty.
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2. Moses had called to himself all that were on God’s side, who thereby where separated from the guilty.
3. The innocent might easily be discerned from the transgressors, either by the personal knowledge which the Levites or others had of the most forward idolaters, or by their abiding in their tents as ashamed and grieving for their sin, whilst the transgressors were impudently walking about in the camp, as trusting to their numbers; or by the direction of God’s providence, if not by some visible token.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the children of Levi did according to the…
And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses,.... They girded their swords by their sides, went through the camp, and slew their brethren, companions and neighbours, who were keeping holy day in honour of the idol:
and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men; the Vulgate Latin version reads 23,000, very wrongly; now these being chiefly, if not altogether, of the tribe of Levi, the brethren, companions, and neighbours of the Levites, that were the slayers, together with the after plagues that came upon them, Exo 32:35 account for the deficiency of males in this tribe, some few months after, when it was numbered; and the number of them from one month old and upwards amounted but to 22,000, which was but a very small one in proportion to the other tribes, who generally, one with another, numbered 40,000 each, and none so few as 30,000 (r); of this tribe Aaron was, and therefore used with severity, because of his concern in this sin; and even though it was the tribe of Moses, it was not spared.
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(r) See the Bishop of Clogber's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 360, 362.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Slay every man his brother - That is, Slay…
Slay every man his brother - That is, Slay all those that you know to have been active for the making and worshipping of the golden calf, though they were your nearest relations or dearest friends. Yet it should seem they were to slay those only whom they found abroad in the street of the camp; for it might be hoped that those who were retired into their tents were ashamed of what they had done.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 27. From gate to gate] It is probable…
Verse 27. From gate to gate] It is probable that there was an enclosed or intrenched camp, in which the chief rulers and heads of the people were, and that this camp had two gates or outlets; and the Levites were commanded to pass from one to the other, slaying as many of the transgressors as they could find.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 32:27. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel…
Exo 32:27. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel — What Moses now did was not done merely in the heat of a pious zeal, but by a divine influence and direction; and therefore can be no warrant to others to imitate his example, who cannot pretend to the same authority, and who are placed in circumstances entirely different from those in which he and the Israelites were placed. Slay every man his brother, and every man his companion — Moses being, under God, their chief ruler, at God’s command, passed this extraordinary sentence upon the offenders, without the common process in courts of judicature, requiring the sons of Levi to go armed into the camp, and cut off the most notorious and obstinate offenders, without regard to kindred, friendship, or any other distinction whatever. And there was no fear of their killing the innocent in this case, because Moses had called to himself all that were on God’s side. These, either by resorting to him, or by retiring to their tents, were separated from the guilty, who were impudently walking about in the camp, trusting to their numbers. It may be observed further here, that, besides the authority of the command of Moses to the Levites, a peculiar impulse from God must have actuated them in this business, otherwise it is very improbable that they should have obeyed so readily, or have dared to attack so many; and a peculiar consciousness of guilt and terror must have fallen on the people, to have caused such a multitude to submit to be slain without making any resistance.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. Slay every man his brother — Those who…
27. Slay every man his brother — Those who were guilty of this breach of the covenant (comp. Exo_32:33) were liable to the penalty of a capital crime, and hence the order for this fearful slaughter. That this order was not intended or understood to warrant an indiscriminate and wholesale massacre is obvious from what follows. Only “about three thousand men” were slain, (Exo_32:28,) or one in two hundred of the adult Israelites, (compare Exo_12:37,) and had these Levitical swordsmen understood Moses’s words literally, they would have felt obliged to slay one another as well as all in the camp. It is not improbable that the three thousand who were slain resisted these Levites, or had refused to drink of the water, (Exo_32:20,) or in some way persisted in their sin. In going in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp the armed executioners of the order may have been safely left to determine who the most guilty parties were. Many facts, known to these Levites, who had seen the operations of the calf worship from its beginning, may be assumed to have guided them in their work of retribution.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 27. Thus saith, &c.] as Exo_5:1, Jos_7:13, 1Sa_10:18 al.…
27. Thus saith, &c.] as Exo_5:1, Jos_7:13, 1Sa_10:18 al. Moses speaks as a prophet. Cf. on Exo_4:22.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (27) Thus saith the Lord God.—Moses felt that he…
(27) Thus saith the Lord God.—Moses felt that he was divinely commissioned to perform this act of severity. The lives of all who had committed the idolatry were justly forfeit. Trial was unnecessary where the offence was being openly committed before the eyes of all. Such dancing and such shouting could not possibly be Jehovah-worship. It was by its very character idolatrous.
Go in and out from gate to gate . . . —i.e., “pass through the whole camp from end to end, visit all parts of it, and wherever you see the rites continuing, smite with the sword—smite, and spare not.”
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Slay every man his brother.—Comp. Exo_32:26. The Levites who had rallied to the call of Moses might find their own brothers or their own sons among the idolaters. If they did, they were still to smite, though the offender was their near relative.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Go in and out from gate to gate, etc.,…
Go in and out from gate to gate, etc., i.e. , "pass through the whole camp visit every part of it and, where you see the licentious rites continuing, use your swords do not spare, though the man be a brother, or a companion, or a neighbour strike nevertheless, and bring the revel to an end."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Slay every man his brother.
Exo_32:27
Slay every man his brother.
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Idolatry punished
I. the actors in this idolatrous scene.
1. Their historical character.
2. The recent experiences through which they had passed.
3. In view of these facts what a revelation of human nature we have here!
(1) Of its fickleness.
(2) Of the difficulty of making deep religious impressions.
(3) Of the imperiousness of the religious nature (Exo_32:1).
(4) Of the depraved tendency of mans natural religious instincts (Exo_32:6).
(5) Of the ingratitude of human nature.
(6) Of the weakness of their present leader, Aaron.
II. The punishment.
1. The opportunity to repent before the punishment was meted out (Exo_32:26).
2. The fidelity of the sons of Levi.
3. The terrible slaughter (Exo_32:27-28).
4. The condition of forgiveness (Exo_32:29-30).
5. The tender-hearted intercessor (Exo_32:31-32).
6. The result of the intercession (Exo_32:33-35).
Lessons:
1. The plausible grounds on which men justify themselves in following their inclinations.
(1) Doubtless the leaders in this idolatry were those who had been corrupted in Egypt, and were longing to have a taste of Egyptian religion.
(2) Their excuse was the delay of Moses in coming down from the mount.
2. The ease with which some leaders will fall in with a popular cry.
3. False leaders will lie to justify themselves.
4. What a power for good or evil is a great popular enthusiasm!
5. The contrast between the religion of man and the religion of God.
6. Sin is no less odious in Gods sight because it is committed in the name of religion. God is ever ready to forgive the truly penitent. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Penalty a veiled blessing
When a thunderstorm is in progress, and torrents of rain are falling, one might wonder why God allowed such a seemingly evil thing to happen. But the farmer, who has been watching for weeks for some sign of rain, knows that this sudden storm and downpour is a blessing in disguise. So the penalties by which God preserved the Israelites from complete self-destruction were veiled blessings. Frowning fortresses, heavy artillery, and iron-clad ships are sometimes Gods best instruments in His sharp surgery of the nations. It is hard to see how the visitation of a penalty is often an act of mercy; but when Moses for his sin was denied an entrance into the Holy Land, was it, after all, a great hardship that he was taken into Gods Paradise instead? (S. S. Times.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.