Exodus 12:38

Summary

Exodus 12:38 states that, along with the Israelites, a large mixed group of people went up out of Egypt, together with very substantial numbers of flocks, herds, and livestock. The verse emphasizes both the size of this accompanying population and the abundance of animals.

Key words

• 'Erev ("a mixed company", H6154M) — a masculine singular noun describing a group of non-uniform composition; it is the subject of the clause and is qualified by the following adjective.
• rav ("numerous", H7227A) — masculine singular adjective modifying 'erev, indicating the large size of this mixed group.
• 'alah ("it went up", H5927G) — qal perfect, third person, describing a completed action of ascending/departing; the verb governs the whole clause about the mixed company.
• mikneh ("livestock", H4735) — masculine singular noun functioning as a summarizing term for the animals just listed (tzon, "flock", H6629G, and baqar, "herd", H1241).
• kaved ("numerous"/"heavy", H3515) — masculine singular adjective modifying mikneh, intensified by me'od ("very", H3966), stressing the great quantity of livestock.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built in two parallel halves joined by ve-gam ("and also"). The first half has 'erev rav as subject with the verb 'alah ("it went up") governing it, followed by the prepositional phrase itam ("with them", H0854 + suffix), anchoring the mixed company's movement to the Israelites already in motion. The second half lists tzon and baqar as coordinated nouns, then restates them under the collective term mikneh, described by the adjective kaved intensified by me'od. This structure—first naming specific animal types, then summarizing them with a general noun modified by an intensified adjective—creates emphasis on abundance that a single flat translation may flatten into one list.

The noun 'erev itself denotes something mixed or heterogeneous in composition, and its pairing with rav underscores not just numerical size but the varied nature of the group. The verb 'alah, in the qal perfect, presents this as a completed, single event tied grammatically to the preceding narrative of departure.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete text as given) omits the equivalent of 'erev rav ("mixed company") at the start of the clause, beginning instead directly with a verb of ascent (anevē, reconstructed) followed by "to them," before listing the animals — it does not render a separate term for a "mixed multitude" in the text supplied. The Vulgate renders 'erev rav as "vulgus promiscuum innumerabile" ("an innumerable promiscuous crowd"), adding the notion of "innumerable" not explicitly present in the Hebrew adjective rav ("numerous/great"). The Spanish RV1909 and SBLIBRE both interpret 'erev as "gente" ("people") of "diversa suerte" or "toda clase" ("of every kind"), matching the sense of heterogeneity in the Hebrew noun.