Exodus 5:22

Summary

Moses returns to Yehovah and addresses him as Adonai, posing two parallel accusatory questions: why has harm been done to "this people," and why was he himself sent. The verse marks a turning point where Moses confronts the divine directly after Pharaoh's harsh response to his initial request.

Key words

• va-yashov ("and he returned", H7725G) — qal narrative form, continuing the story sequence with "and then he returned."
• hare'otah ("you have done harm", H7489A) — hiphil (causative) perfect of the root for "evil/harm"; the causative stem indicates Moses attributes active causation of harm, not mere occurrence.
• lamah ("why?", H4100) — interrogative pronoun, appearing twice in the verse to introduce both of Moses' questions.
• zeh ("this", H2088) — demonstrative particle; in the second question it combines with lammah (lammah zeh, "why THIS") to form an intensified interrogative construction, distinct from the simple lamah used in the first question.
• Adonai ("O Lord", H0136) — a divine title, used here instead of the tetragrammaton YHWH (H3068G) that appeared just before it in the same verse (va-yomar el YHWH... Adonai).

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel narrative verbs (va-yashov, "and he returned"; va-yomar, "and he said") that carry the story forward, followed by direct speech introduced by the title Adonai rather than the name YHWH used in the preceding clause. This shift between the tetragrammaton (v. 22a, narrative) and Adonai (direct address) reflects a common alternation in biblical Hebrew between narrative naming and vocative address, though the data given does not indicate any semantic distinction beyond form.

The heart of the verse is two structurally similar but grammatically distinct questions. The first, lamah hare'otah la'am hazeh ("why have you done harm to this people"), uses the simple interrogative lamah with a hiphil perfect verb, framing Yehovah as the causative agent of harm. The second, lammah zeh shelachtani ("why is it that you sent me" / "why then did you send me"), adds the demonstrative zeh directly after lammah, an intensified form not present in the first question. This construction (lammah zeh) grammatically marks the second question as more emphatic than the first, suggesting rhetorical escalation within Moses' complaint, though the Hebrew presents both as independent, parallel accusations rather than a single compound question.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew's two questions are grammatically separate (lamah... lammah zeh...), each with its own interrogative. The LXX preserves this separation (τί ἐκάκωσας... καὶ ἵνα τί ἀπέσταλκάς με — "why did you harm... and why have you sent me"), as does the Vulgate (cur afflixisti... quare misisti me — "why have you afflicted... why did you send me"). The BSB, however, renders the second question as "Is this why You sent me?", which rhetorically links it back to the first question about the people's suffering — a connection not grammatically marked in the Hebrew, where lammah zeh stands as its own emphatic interrogative rather than a reference back to the prior clause.