Exodus 14:12

Summary

The verse records the Israelites' rhetorical complaint to Moses at the sea, recalling what they allegedly told him in Egypt. They ask whether this was not the very thing they had said there, quoting their own words: "leave us alone, let us serve Egypt," and concluding that serving Egypt would be better than dying in the wilderness.

Key words

• ha ("¿", H9008) + lo' ("not", H3808) — the interrogative particle combined with the negation forms the standard Hebrew construction for a rhetorical question expecting a positive answer ("is it not...?").
• dibbarnu ("we spoke", H1696G) — piel perfect, 1st person plural, marking a completed speech-act; the piel stem intensifies the verb "to speak" beyond the simple qal.
• chadal ("cease", H2308) — qal imperative, 2nd masculine singular, a direct command addressed to Moses within the quoted speech.
• na'avdah ("let us serve", H5647G) — a 1st person plural volitional form joined to chadal by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), presenting a second desired action parallel to the first.
• mimutenu ("than our dying", H4191 + H9045) — the preposition min ("than") prefixed to an infinitive with pronominal suffix, forming the comparative base for the statement that serving is "better than" dying.

What the text says

The verse opens with the compound particle ha-lo (H9008 + H3808), which in Biblical Hebrew introduces a rhetorical question implying the speaker already knows the answer is "yes." This governs the whole first clause: "is not this the davar ('word/thing', H1697I) that we spoke (dibbarnu) to you in Egypt?" The relative particle 'asher (H0834A) links "the word" to the following quoted speech, which is introduced by the infinitive construct le'mor ("saying", H0559) — a common Hebrew device for opening direct discourse.

Inside the quotation, two volitional forms appear side by side: the imperative chadal ("cease", H2308), directed at Moses ("cease from us"), and the cohortative-type form na'avdah ("let us serve", H5647G), expressing the speakers' own wish. The Hebrew presents these as two parallel, independent volitional statements joined by ve, rather than one clause depending on the other.

The final comparison uses tov ("good/better", H2896A) followed by the preposition min ("than") attached to the infinitive mutenu ("our dying"), a standard Hebrew comparative construction: "good for us to serve Egypt more-than our dying in the wilderness."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the two Hebrew volitional clauses (chadal mimennu / ve-na'avdah) as a single subordinated structure: "Πάρες ἡμᾶς ὅπως δουλεύσωμεν" ("leave us so that we may serve"), turning the second clause into a purpose clause dependent on the first imperative. The Vulgate follows the same pattern: "Recede a nobis, ut serviamus Aegyptiis" ("depart from us, that we may serve the Egyptians"). Where the Hebrew presents "cease from us" and "let us serve Egypt" as two coordinated wishes, both the LXX and Vulgate present the second as the intended result of the first.