He will be your spokesman to the people. It will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.
Parallel Translations
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He will be your spokesman to the people. It will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.
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And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
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And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him in God's stead.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Exodus 4:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 7:1-2 Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.
- Psalms 82:6 I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.
- John 10:34-35 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),
- Exodus 18:19 Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, as a wise counselor and full of God’s…
Meaning, as a wise counselor and full of God’s spirit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 4:16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto…
Exo 4:16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, [even] he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
Ver. 16. And he shall be thy spokesman.] God hath made me ill-favoured in this world, and without grace in the sight of men, said Tyndale to Frith, {a} speechless and rude, dull and slow witted: your part shall be to supply that which lacketh in me: remembering, that as lowliness of heart shall make you high with God, even so meekness of words shall make you sink into the hearts of men.
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Instead of God.] To dictate unto him my mind and counsel. Such a god to every Christian is his sanctified conscience.
{a} Act. and Mon., fol. 988.
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 To teach and command him. See Exo 7:1.
To teach and command him. See Exo 7:1.
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 he shall be thy spokesman unto the people,....…
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people,.... And open to them Moses's commission from God, and the end of his mission into Egypt, and to them, and declare what signs had been, and would be done, in confirmation of it:
and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth; or an interpreter, as all the Targums explain it, and so Jarchi; as he was an orator and master of language, he should speak to the people for Moses, and explain his sense and meaning, and put it into plain, proper, easy language, to be understood by the people; and this may be done where a different language is not spoken, but the same in plainer words, in more pertinent expressions, and better pronounced, and this is repeated for the certainty of it:
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and thou shall be to him instead of God; Aaron was to stand between Moses and the people, and speak for him; and Moses was to stand between God and Aaron, and in God's stead, and tell him what orders he had received from him, and which he should communicate; and so some Jewish writers (a) interpret it of his being to him instead of a master or teacher, one that received doctrine from the Lord, and instructed him in it, and taught him the mind and will of God: or, as Onkelos paraphrases it; "for a prince", and so Jarchi, a civil magistrate, one that had the power of life and death; the administration of civil affairs belonged to Moses, and Aaron, though the elder brother, was subject to him; and in this sense Moses was a god to him; and so in after times, the judges of Israel, they that sat in Moses's chair, were called gods, Psa 82:1.
(a) Targum Jon. Jerus. & Abendana in loc.
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 Instead of God - To teach and to command…
Instead of God - To teach and to command him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. He shall be thy spokesman] Literally, He…
Verse 16. He shall be thy spokesman] Literally, He shall speak for thee (or in thy stead) to the people.
He shall be to thee instead of a mouth] He shall convey every message to the people; and thou shalt be to him instead of God - thou shalt deliver to him what I communicate to thee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Instead of a mouth - We may bear in…
Instead of a mouth - We may bear in mind Aaron’s unbroken habitude of speaking Hebrew and his probable familiarity with Egyptian.
Instead of God - The word “God” is used of persons who represent the Deity, as kings or judges, and it is understood in this sense here: “Thou shalt be to him a master.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain To God. Hebrew, "thou shalt be to him in…
To God. Hebrew, "thou shalt be to him in the place of God." He shall hear and obey thee, explaining to the people the instructions thou shalt give him. I have established thee the god of Pharao, and Aaron shall be thy prophet, chap. vii. 1. (Calmet) --- I will address myself immediately to thee. (Tirinus)
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).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. And he (emph.) shall be thy spokesman] Heb.…
16. And he (emph.) shall be thy spokesman] Heb. shall speak for thee.
as God] or as a god,—inspiring him, as God (or a god) inspired (or was supposed to inspire) a prophet.
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 (16) He shall be thy spokesman.—Heb.,He shall speak for…
(16) He shall be thy spokesman.—Heb.,He shall speak for thee.
He shall be, even he shall be.—Rather, it shall come to pass that he shall be, &c.
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Instead of God.—God did not speak to Aaron directly, but only through Moses. Aaron was to recognise in Moses God’s mouthpiece, and to consider what Moses told him as coming from God. Moses had still, therefore, the higher position.
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 He shall be thy spokesman. Literally, "He shall speak…
He shall be thy spokesman. Literally, "He shall speak for thee." He shall be, even he. It is the verb that is repeated, not the pronoun. Probably the meaning is, "he shall surely be." There is no comparison between Aaron and anyone else. Thou shalt be to him instead of God. Divine inspiration, that is, shall rest on thee; and it shall be his duty to accept thy words as Divine words, and to do all that thou biddest him.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.