Exodus 32:25

Summary

The verse states that Moses saw the people in a state described by the root para ("to let loose/run wild", H6544B), and explains this condition as the result of Aaron's action, which brought about shimtsah ("derision", H8103) among those who opposed them.

Key words

• va-yar ("and he saw", H7200G) — qal narrative verb, marking the next event in the story sequence: Moses' perception of the scene.
• paru'a ("[was] running wild", H6544B) — qal passive participle, masculine singular, describing the people's state as a result of something done to them.
• para'oh ("had let [it] run wild", H6544B) — qal perfect, same root as above but active/completed form with a 3rd-person masculine suffix, attributing the action to Aaron.
• shimtsah ("derision", H8103) — feminine singular noun, naming the social consequence of the situation.
• qamei-hem ("those who rise against them", H6965J) — qal participle, masculine plural construct with pronominal suffix "their", denoting adversaries in an active, ongoing stance ("the ones rising up").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on a double occurrence of the root para (H6544B): first as a passive participle (paru'a, "it was let loose/wild") describing the people's condition, then as a perfect verb (para'oh, "he had let it run wild") attributing the cause to Aaron. This repetition creates a wordplay linking the people's state directly to Aaron's action — the same root appears both as result and as cause. The two ki (H3588A) clauses are subordinating, the first introducing what Moses observed ("that it was running wild"), the second introducing the reason ("because Aaron had let it run wild").

The final phrase, le-shimtsah be-qamei-hem, uses the preposition le (H9005, "for") to mark purpose or result — the wild state became "a derision" — while qamei-hem (H6965J), a participle meaning "those rising against them," designates adversaries in an active posture rather than a static noun like "enemies." This construction frames the derision as occurring specifically before hostile onlookers who are "rising up" against the people, rather than as a general shame.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders paru'a with diaskedastai ("scattered/dispersed"), giving a sense of dispersal rather than wildness. The Vulgate uses nudatus ("stripped/naked") and nudum ("naked"), introducing an image of nakedness not explicit in the Hebrew root para (H6544B) as glossed here. The Spanish RV1909 follows the Vulgate's "despojado" (stripped), while BSB and SBLIBRE render para as "out of control" or "descontrolado," aligning more closely with the "running wild" sense given in the Hebrew gloss.