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Sunday, August 3rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Good News Translation

Exodus 17:4

Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord and said, "What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Backsliders;   Blessing;   Evil for Good;   Ingratitude;   Israel;   Meribah;   Persecution;   Prayer;   Thompson Chain Reference - Afflictions;   Crying to God;   Earnestness-Indifference;   Prayer;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Ingratitude;   Prayer, Answers to;   Rocks;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Aaron;   Meribah;   Rephidim;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Exodus, Theology of;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Meribah;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Levi;   Punishments;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Aaron's Rod;   Exodus, Book of;   Kadesh-Meribah;   Provocation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Exodus;   Massah and Meribah;   Moses;   Numbers, Book of;   Zin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Stoning;   Stoning (2);   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Levi;   Mordecai;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Journeyings of israel from egypt to canaan;   Meribali;   Rephidim;   Stoning;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Punishments;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Sinai;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Criticism (the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis);   Intercession;   Moses;   Pentateuch;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eleazar (Eliezer) B. Hisma;   Exodus, Book of;   Rephidim;   Water;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Moshe cried to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
King James Version
And Moses cried unto the Lord , saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
Lexham English Bible
And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, "What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me."
New Century Version
So Moses cried to the Lord , "What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me to death."
New English Translation
Then Moses cried out to the Lord , "What will I do with this people?—a little more and they will stone me!"
Amplified Bible
So Moses cried out to the LORD for help, saying, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
New American Standard Bible
So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What am I to do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And Moses cried to the Lorde, saying, What shal I do to this people? for they be almost ready to stone me.
Legacy Standard Bible
So Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me."
Contemporary English Version
Then Moses prayed to the Lord , "What am I going to do with these people? They are about to stone me to death!"
Complete Jewish Bible
Moshe cried out to Adonai , "What am I to do with these people? They're ready to stone me!"
Darby Translation
And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do with this people? Yet a little, and they will stone me!
Easy-to-Read Version
So Moses cried to the Lord , "What can I do with these people? They are ready to kill me."
English Standard Version
So Moses cried to the Lord , "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
George Lamsa Translation
And Moses prayed to the LORD, saying. What shall I do with this people? They were almost ready to stone me.
Christian Standard Bible®
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”
Literal Translation
And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do to this people? Yet a little and they will stone me.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Moses cried vnto the LORDE, and sayde: What shal I do wt this people? They are allmost ready to stone me.
American Standard Version
And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me.
Bible in Basic English
And Moses, crying out to the Lord, said, What am I to do to this people? they are almost ready to put me to death by stoning.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Moyses cryed vnto the Lorde, saying: What shall I do vnto this people, they be almost redy to stone me?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying: 'What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me.'
King James Version (1611)
And Moses cried vnto the Lord, saying, What shall I doe vnto this people? They be almost ready to stone me.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, What shall I do to this people? yet a little while and they will stone me.
English Revised Version
And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
Berean Standard Bible
Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Moises criede to the Lord, and seide, What schal Y do to this puple? yit a litil, also it schal stone me.
Young's Literal Translation
And Moses crieth to Jehovah, saying, `What do I to this people? yet a little, and they have stoned me.'
Update Bible Version
And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, What shall I do to this people? they are almost ready to stone me.
World English Bible
Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
New King James Version
So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!"
New Living Translation
Then Moses cried out to the Lord , "What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!"
New Life Bible
So Moses called to the Lord, saying, "What should I do with these people? They are almost ready to throw stones at me."
New Revised Standard
So Moses cried out to the Lord , "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Moses made outcry unto Yahweh saying, What am I to do, with this people? Yet a little, and they will stone me.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me.
Revised Standard Version
So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
THE MESSAGE
Moses cried out in prayer to God , "What can I do with these people? Any minute now they'll kill me!"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me."

Contextual Overview

1 The whole Israelite community left the desert of Sin, moving from one place to another at the command of the Lord . They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there to drink. 2 They complained to Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses answered, "Why are you complaining? Why are you putting the Lord to the test?" 3 But the people were very thirsty and continued to complain to Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4 Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord and said, "What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 The Lord said to Moses, "Take some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go on ahead of the people. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile. 6 I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel. 7 The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites complained and put the Lord to the test when they asked, "Is the Lord with us or not?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cried: Exodus 14:15, Exodus 15:25, Numbers 11:11

almost: Numbers 14:10, Numbers 16:19, 1 Samuel 30:6, John 8:59, John 10:31, Acts 7:50, Acts 14:19

Reciprocal: Exodus 5:22 - returned Exodus 15:24 - General Numbers 20:6 - they fell 1 Kings 12:18 - all Israel 1 Kings 17:20 - he cried Job 42:10 - when

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.
Genesis 13:16
I am going to give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all; it would be as easy to count all the specks of dust on earth!
Genesis 16:10
Then he said, "I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them.
Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the Almighty God. Obey me and always do what is right.
Genesis 17:11
From now on you must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old, including slaves born in your homes and slaves bought from foreigners. This will show that there is a covenant between you and me.
Genesis 17:18
He asked God, "Why not let Ishmael be my heir?"
Genesis 22:17
I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies.
Genesis 32:12
Remember that you promised to make everything go well for me and to give me more descendants than anyone could count, as many as the grains of sand along the seashore."
Genesis 35:11
And God said to him, "I am Almighty God. Have many children. Nations will be descended from you, and you will be the ancestor of kings.
Genesis 48:19
His father refused, saying, "I know, son, I know. Manasseh's descendants will also become a great people. But his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become great nations."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moses cried unto the Lord..... Or prayed unto him, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; which shows the distress he was thrown into, the vehemence of his prayer, and perhaps the loud and lamentable tone in which he expressed it: this was the method he always took, and the refuge he fled unto in all his times of trouble; in which he did well, and set a good example of piety and devotion to God, of faith and trust in him: saying,

what shall I do unto this people? or, "for this people" h; to relieve them in their present exigency; suggesting his own inability to do any thing for them: yet not despairing of relief, but rather expressing faith in the power and goodness of God to keep them, by his application to him; desiring that he would open a way for their help, and direct him what he must do in this case for them: something, he intimates, must be done speedily for the glory of God, for his own safety, and to prevent the people sinning yet more and more, and so bring destruction upon them; for, adds he,

they be almost ready to stone me or, "yet a little, and they will stone me" i; if the time of help is protracted, if relief is not in a short time given, he had reason to believe from the menaces they had given out, the impatience they had showed, the rage they were in, they would certainly take up stones and stone him, being in a stony and rocky place; and this they would do, not as a formal punishment of him as a false prophet, telling them they should be brought to Canaan, when they were brought into the wilderness and perishing there; which law respecting such an one was not yet in being; but this he supposed as what an enraged multitude was wont to do, and which was more ready at hand for them to do than anything else, see Exodus 8:26.

h לעם הזה "populo haic", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, c. i עוד מעט "adhuc paululum et lapidabit me." V. L. "parum abest", Tigurine version "adhuc modicum", Pagninus, Montanus; "adhuc paulisper", Junius Tremellius, Piscator so Ainsworth.


 
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