Exodus 7:8

Study note

Setting — The LORD addresses Moses and Aaron immediately following their initial audience with Pharaoh at ages eighty and eighty-three. This occurs at the precise moment Yahweh prepares to issue a command regarding a physical sign before the Egyptian ruler.

The words — The Hebrew וַ/יֹּ֣אמֶר (va/i.Yo.mer) translates literally as "and he said," serving as the narrative marker for divine speech. The phrase לֵ/אמֹֽר\׃ (le./Mor) carries the literal sense "to saying," structurally introducing the direct command that follows in the next verse.

The thread — This verbal formula for introducing divine speech appears throughout the Pentateuch, including Exodus 6:28 and Exodus 8:20. It establishes a consistent literary pattern where Yahweh’s directives to Moses and Aaron are consistently prefaced by this exact phrasing.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that the following instructions are direct divine mandates rather than human proposals. It demands careful attention to distinguish Yahweh’s spoken commands from the surrounding narrative framework that delivers them.

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.