Bible Strands
Exodus 3:9
And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses at the burning bush, immediately after declaring His intention to descend and before commissioning him to confront Pharaoh. The moment marks the divine response to the prolonged suffering of the Israelites under Egyptian bondage.
The words — צַעֲקַת (tza.'a.Kat) denotes the cry of distress, and בָּאָה (Ba.'ah) indicates it has arrived or reached. These terms emphasize the immediacy and weight of the Israelites' suffering as it enters God's direct awareness.
The thread — The verse echoes the groaning and crying out recorded in Exodus 2:23 and aligns with the prohibition against crushing the afflicted in Proverbs 22:22. It also grounds the forced labor oppression described in Exodus 1:11.
Why it lands — The text first states that God has heard the cry and witnessed the oppression before declaring His rescue plan. This sequence demands that readers recognize divine attention to injustice as the prerequisite for deliverance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Cross-references
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Proverbs 22:22 Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,
- Exodus 1:11 So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
- Exodus 1:13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
- Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
- Psalms 12:5 “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
- Ecclesiastes 4:1 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
- Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
- Jeremiah 50:33 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “The sons of Israel are oppressed, and the sons of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to release them.