And he said, O my LORD, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else.”
- BSB But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
- NKJV But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
- NASB But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.”
- NLT But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses finally pleads with God to send someone else, exposing reluctance beneath his objections. Even chosen servants can resist the call of God.
Overview
Stripped of further excuses, Moses simply asks God to send another, revealing that his hesitancy was rooted not only in inability but in unwillingness. This honest reluctance, met with God's response in the next verses, shows the patience of God toward a flawed servant. It also reminds believers that calling is grounded in God's will and provision, not in our eagerness or sense of fitness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 4:1And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
- Jonah 1:3But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
- Judg 2:1And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
- John 6:29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
- Ezek 3:14–15So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
- Jer 1:6Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
- Matt 13:41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
- Gen 48:16The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
- Jonah 1:6So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
- Jer 20:9Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
- Exod 23:20Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
- 1 Kgs 19:4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
- Gen 24:7The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 4:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.