Exodus 10:24

Summary

Pharaoh summons Moses and tells him to go and serve Yehovah, but sets a condition: the flocks and herds must be held back (yutzag), while the children (tap) may go along. This is Pharaoh's third negotiating offer during the plague sequence, softening his terms compared to earlier exchanges.

Key words

• va-yiqra ("and he summoned", H7121G) — narrative qal verb with vav, marks the sequential action opening the scene: Pharaoh initiates the summons.
• lekhu ("go", H1980G) and ivdu ("serve", H5647H) — both qal imperatives, masculine plural, giving Pharaoh's direct command in the second person plural, addressed to the group, not just Moses.
• tzon-khem ("your flock", H6629G) and ve-qar-khem ("and your herd", H1241) — nouns in construct form with a possessive suffix, syntactically bound to -khem ("your"), denoting the livestock Pharaoh wants left behind.
• yutzag ("it will be detained", H3322) — hophal imperfect, a causative-passive form: the subject (flocks/herds) does not act on its own but is made to remain by an external agent, distinct from a simple passive.
• taph-khem ("your little ones", H2945) construct with suffix, paired with yelekh ("it will go", H1980G), a qal imperfect indicating permitted future action — the children are allowed movement, unlike the livestock.

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative qal verbs joined by the vav-consecutive chain (va-yiqra, va-yomer), which is the standard mechanism advancing the story: "and he summoned... and he said." Pharaoh's speech itself contains two paired imperatives, lekhu ("go") and ivdu ("serve"), both second person masculine plural, framing his permission as a command rather than a request.

The restrictive clause uses rak ("only", H7535) to isolate the exception: the flocks and herds (both nouns in construct chains with the -khem suffix, "your flock," "your herd") are the object of the hophal verb yutzag. The hophal binyan is significant here: it is a causative-passive, meaning the livestock does not remain by its own action but is caused to be left behind — implying an external agent (Pharaoh's decree) enforcing the detention, distinct from a plain passive or reflexive "staying."

In contrast, the children (tap-khem) are given a qal imperfect verb, yelekh ("it will go"), the ordinary active form, paired with the preposition ʿimma-khem ("with you"). The grammatical contrast between the causative-passive yutzag for the animals and the plain active yelekh for the children marks a structural asymmetry: the livestock is acted upon and restrained, while the children are simply described as moving along.

Differences between versions

The LXX and Vulgate both add "and Aaron" (Ἀαρὼν / et Aaron) as an addressee of Pharaoh's summons and speech, an element not present in the Hebrew text given, which names only Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) as the one summoned and addressed. The LXX also renders ivdu ("serve") as λατρεύσατε ("worship/render service"), and the Vulgate uses sacrificate ("sacrifice"), both narrowing the sense of the more general Hebrew verb "to serve" (H5647H) toward cultic worship.