Exodus 4:10

Clementine Latin Vulgate

Dixitque ad eum : Quid fecisti ? vox sanguinis fratris tui clamat ad me de terra.

Parallel Translations

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Ait Moyses: Obsecro, Domine, non sum eloquens ab heri et nudiustertius: et ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum, impeditioris et tardioris lingu� sum.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
Ait Moyses: "Obsecro, Domine, non sum eloquens ab heri et nudiustertius et ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum, nam impeditioris et tardioris linguae sum".

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

eloquent: Heb. a man of words, Exodus 4:1, Job 12:2, 1 Corinthians 2:1-4, 2 Corinthians 10:10, 2 Corinthians 11:6

heretofore: Heb. since yesterday, nor since the third day, slow of speech Exodus 6:12, Jeremiah 1:6, Acts 7:22

Reciprocal: Genesis 31:2 - as before Exodus 3:11 - General Exodus 6:30 - uncircumcised Joshua 3:4 - heretofore Joshua 5:14 - my lord Judges 4:8 - General Judges 6:15 - wherewith Judges 7:10 - General 1 Samuel 19:7 - in times past 1 Kings 3:9 - who is able 2 Kings 13:5 - beforetime Isaiah 3:3 - eloquent orator Isaiah 6:5 - a man Isaiah 6:8 - Whom Daniel 10:16 - my Lord Mark 7:37 - he maketh Mark 13:11 - take Acts 18:24 - an 2 Corinthians 3:5 - that 2 Corinthians 12:9 - My grace

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moses said unto the Lord,.... Notwithstanding the above miracles, he seems unwilling to go on the Lord's errand to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, and therefore invents a new objection after all his other objections had been sufficiently answered:

I am not eloquent; or "a man of words" s, that has words at command, that can speak well readily, and gracefully; such an one, he intimates, was proper to be sent to a king's court, that was an orator, that could make fine speeches, and handsome addresses, for which he was not qualified:

neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant; neither in his younger years had he ever been an eloquent man, nor was there any alteration in him in that respect, since God had given him this call:

but I [am] slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; had some impediment in his speech, could not freely and easily bring out his words, or rightly pronounce them; so Lucian t the Heathen calls Moses slow tongued, or one slow of speech, and uses the same word the Septuagint does here, which version perhaps he had seen, and from thence took it.

s איש דברים "vir verborum", Paguinus, Montanus, Piscator, Ainsworth. t In Philopatride.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Eloquent - See the margin. The double expression “slow of speech (Ezekiel 3:5 margin) and of a slow tongue” seems to imply a difficulty both in finding words and in giving them utterance, a very natural result of so long a period of a shepherd’s life, passed in a foreign land.

Since thou hast spoken - This expression seems to imply that some short time had intervened between this address and the first communication of the divine purpose to Moses.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 4:10. I am not eloquent — לא איש דברים lo ish debarim, I am not a man of words; a periphrasis common in the Scriptures. So Job 11:2, איש שפתים ish sephathayim, a man of lips, signifies one that is talkative. Psalms 140:11, איש לשון ish lashon, a man of tongue, signifies a prattler. But how could it be said that Moses was not eloquent, when St. Stephen asserts, Acts 7:22, that he was mighty in words as well as in deeds? There are three ways of solving this difficulty:

1. Moses might have had some natural infirmity, of a late standing, which at that time rendered it impossible for him to speak readily, and which he afterwards overcame; so that though he was not then a man of words, yet he might afterwards have been mighty in words as well as deeds.

2. It is possible he was not intimately acquainted with the Hebrew tongue, so as to speak clearly and distinctly in it. The first forty years of his life he had spent in Egypt, chiefly at court; and though it is very probable there was an affinity between the two languages, yet they certainly were not the same. The last forty he had spent in Midian, and it is not likely that the pure Hebrew tongue prevailed there, though it is probable that a dialect of it was there spoken. On these accounts Moses might find it difficult to express himself with that readiness and persuasive flow of language, which he might deem essentially necessary on such a momentous occasion; as he would frequently be obliged to consult his memory for proper expressions, which would necessarily produce frequent hesitation, and general slowness of utterance, which he might think would ill suit an ambassador of God.

3. Though Moses was slow of speech, yet when acting as the messenger of God his word was with power, for at his command the plagues came and the plagues were stayed; thus was he mighty in words as well as in deeds: and this is probably the meaning of St. Stephen.

By the expression, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, he might possibly mean that the natural inaptitude to speak readily, which he had felt, he continued to feel, even since God had begun to discover himself; for though he had wrought several miracles for him, yet he had not healed this infirmity. Exodus 6:12.