Exodus 4:6

World English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'Yahweh has not appeared to you.'" ² Yahweh said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." ³ He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it. ⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, "Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail." He put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand. ⁵ "That they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." ⁶ Yahweh said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. ⁷ He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh. ⁸ "It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. ⁹ It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

leprous as snow: Numbers 12:10, 2 Kings 5:27

Reciprocal: Leviticus 8:11 - General Leviticus 13:2 - the plague of leprosy 2 Kings 5:10 - thy flesh Luke 5:12 - full Luke 6:10 - Stretch

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have gotten a man with Yahweh's help."

Genesis 4:3
As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground.

Genesis 4:4
Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat of it. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering,

Genesis 4:5
but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.

Genesis 4:8
Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let's go into the field." It happened, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

Genesis 4:11
Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

Genesis 4:13
Cain said to Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Job 5:2
For resentment kills the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple.

Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, and let us reason together," says Yahweh: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Jeremiah 2:5
thus says Yahweh, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord said furthermore unto him,.... Continued his discourse, and gave him another sign:

put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; within his coat, under that part of the garment next to his breast:

and when he took it out, behold, his hand [was] leprous as snow; that is, white as snow, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, through the leprosy that was upon it; it was a leprosy of the white sort, and which is reckoned the worst and most difficult to be cured, see

Leviticus 13:3. It is highly probable that this gave rise to the story told by several Heathen writers, as Manetho m, Lysimachus n, Trogus o, and Tacitus p, that Moses and the Israelites were drove out of Egypt by the advice of an oracle, because they had the leprosy, itch, and other impure diseases upon them.

m Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. c. 26. n Apud. ib. c. 34. o Justin e Trogo, l. 36. c. 2. p Hist. l. 5. c. 3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Leprous - The instantaneous production and cure of the most malignant and subtle disease known to the Israelites was a sign of their danger if they resisted the command, and of their deliverance if they obeyed it. The infliction and cure were always regarded as special proofs of a divine intervention.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 4:6. His hand was leprous as snow. — That is, the leprosy spread itself over the whole body in thin white scales; and from this appearance it has its Greek name λεπρα, from λεπις, a scale. Dr. Mead says, "I have seen a remarkable case of this in a countryman, whose whole body was so miserably seized with it, that his skin was shining as if covered with snow; and as the surfuraceous scales were daily rubbed off, the flesh appeared quick or raw underneath." The leprosy, at least among the Jews, was a most inveterate and contagious disorder, and deemed by them incurable. Among the heathens it was considered as inflicted by their gods, and it was supposed that they alone could remove it. It is certain that a similar belief prevailed among the Israelites; hence, when the king of Syria sent his general Naaman, to the king of Israel to cure him of his leprosy, he rent his clothes, saying, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? 2 Kings 5:7. This appears, therefore, to be the reason why God chose this sign, as the instantaneous infliction and removal of this disease were demonstrations which all would allow of the sovereign power of God. We need, therefore, seek for no other reasons for this miracle: the sole reason is sufficiently obvious.