Exodus 10:25

Summary

Moses replies to Pharaoh, insisting that Pharaoh himself ("also you") must supply the animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that the Israelites can offer them to Yehovah their God. The verse structures Moses' demand as a direct rebuttal, using emphatic pronoun placement and a construct chain to specify "our God."

Key words

• gam ("also", H1571) — adverb placed before "you," creating emphasis: Pharaoh too, not only the Israelites, must contribute something to this departure.
• 'atah ("you", H0859A) — independent personal pronoun; in Hebrew this is grammatically redundant with the verb's subject already marked by conjugation, so its presence intensifies the emphasis begun by gam.
• titen ("you will give", H5414K) — qal imperfect, denoting a future or ongoing obligation rather than a completed act; frames Pharaoh's provision as something still to happen.
• beyadenu ("in our hand", H3027H + H9025) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, literally "into the hand of us," an idiom for placing something under someone's control or possession.
• 'asinu ("we will offer", H6213I) — sequential (waw-consecutive) perfect; continues the narrative chain begun by titen, presenting the Israelites' offering as the next step that follows once Pharaoh gives the animals.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two linked clauses joined by narrative va ("and", H9001) and sequential ve (H9002/H9001): first Pharaoh must "give into our hand" (titen beyadenu) the zevachim ("sacrifices", H2077) and 'olot ("burnt offerings", H5930A); then the Israelites will "do/offer" ('asinu) them to YHWH 'eloheinu ("our God", H0430G construct + H9025). The construct phrase beyadenu is significant: it does not simply mean "give to us" but "place into our hand," emphasizing physical transfer of control over the animals from Pharaoh to Moses' people. The doubled emphasis of gam plus the independent pronoun 'atah stresses that Pharaoh, who has just proposed exempting flocks and herds from departure, is the one who must supply the sacrificial animals — reversing his prior demand.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the two sacrificial terms in reverse order — ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίας ("burnt offerings and sacrifices") — compared to the Hebrew order zevachim ve'olot ("sacrifices and burnt offerings"). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew order with "Hostias quoque et holocausta" ("sacrifices... and burnt offerings"). Both the LXX (δώσεις ἡμῖν, "you will give to us") and the Vulgate (dabis nobis, "you will give to us") omit the idiom beyadenu ("into our hand"), rendering it simply as "to us" without the imagery of hand/possession found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate also casts the final clause as a subordinate relative ("quae offeramus," "which we may offer"), whereas the Hebrew ve'asinu is a sequential main clause continuing the narrative action.