And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”
- BSB The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”
- NKJV And the Lord said to Moses, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”
- NASB Then the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power too little? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.”
- NLT Then the Lord said to Moses, “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”
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
God asks Moses if the LORD's hand is too short, promising he will see God's word fulfilled. God's power is never limited by human calculation.
Overview
The LORD answers Moses' doubt with a pointed question about whether his arm is too short to act. The phrase affirms God's unlimited power against every human estimate of impossibility. Moses, and Israel, will witness that God's word always comes to pass (Isa. 59:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 59:1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
- Gen 18:14Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
- Isa 50:2Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
- Matt 19:26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
- Luke 1:37For with God nothing shall be impossible.
- Ezek 12:25For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
- Ezek 24:14I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
- Mic 2:7O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
- Jer 44:28–29Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.
- Ps 78:41Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
- 2 Kgs 7:17–19And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
- 2 Kgs 7:2Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 11:23 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
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