Bible Strands
Exodus 8:20
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh commands Moses to rise early and stand before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water. This instruction follows Pharaoh’s magicians acknowledging the plague as the finger of God, yet Pharaoh’s heart remains hardened.
The words — The Hebrew הַשְׁכֵּ֤ם (hash.Kem) means “rise early,” stressing prompt action, while וַ/יֹּ֨אמֶר (va/i.Yo.mer) marks the transition to divine speech. יְהוָ֜ה (Yah.weh) identifies the speaker as Yahweh, grounding the directive in covenant authority.
The thread — This dawn interception pattern recurs in Exodus 7:15 and 9:13, where Yahweh repeatedly directs Moses to meet Pharaoh at the Nile. The demand to “let My people go” echoes the initial commission in Exodus 3:18.
Why it lands — The text requires immediate confrontation with entrenched power, placing worship above political concession. It demands the reader accept that divine timing overrides human scheduling and that liberation is measured by the capacity to worship.
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 the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
Cross-references
- Exodus 7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
- Exodus 9:13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
- Exodus 3:18 The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
- Exodus 8:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.