Bible Strands
Exodus 4:13
But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses speaks to Yahweh immediately after receiving a promise of verbal assistance (Exodus 4:12). He issues this request at the conclusion of his series of objections, just before divine anger is recorded (Exodus 4:14).
The words — The phrase בִּי אֲדֹנָי שְׁלַח־נָא (bi Adonai shalach-na) literally renders "pardon me, O Lord, please send." The root שׁלח (shalach) appears twice in the clause, stressing the petition for an alternative messenger.
The thread — This request for relief from a divine commission echoes the reluctance pattern in Exodus 4:1 and Jonah’s attempt to flee in Jonah 1:3. Each text documents a human figure seeking exemption from a directly assigned task.
Why it lands — The verse forces a reader to distinguish between a recorded plea and a granted outcome. It requires acknowledging that human hesitation does not nullify the subsequent divine directive.
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
And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
Cross-references
- Exodus 4:1 Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
- Jonah 1:3 Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
- Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
- Exodus 23:20 Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
- Judges 2:1 Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,
- Jeremiah 1:6 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”
- Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
- Ezekiel 3:14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
- Jonah 1:6 The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
- Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.