Exodus 10:24

24 And Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Go, serve Yahweh. Only your sheep and goats and your cattle must be left behind. Your dependents may also go with you."

Exodus 10:24 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 10:24

And Pharaoh called unto Moses
After the three days, as the Targum of Jonathan, when the darkness was over, or at least much diminished, fearing that still worse evils would befall him: and said, go ye, serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be
stayed;
stopped or remained behind, as a pledge and security of their return; and these the rather he was desirous of retaining, because of the great loss of cattle he had sustained by the murrain and boils upon them, and by the hail: let your little ones also go with you; this he had refused before, but now consents to it, which he thought was doing them a great favour, and that upon such terms they might be content to go.

Exodus 10:24 In-Context

22 And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness of night in all the land of Egypt [for] three days.

23 No one could see his brother, and {because of it no one could move from where they were} [for] three days, but there was light for the {Israelites} in their dwellings.

24 And Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Go, serve Yahweh. Only your sheep and goats and your cattle must be left behind. Your dependents may also go with you."

25 And Moses said, "Even [if] you yourself put into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings and we offer [them] to Yahweh our God,

26 our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof can be left because we must take from them to serve Yahweh our God. And we will not know [with] what we are to serve Yahweh until we come there."

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "little children" or "little ones"; the term here includes women and children and men too old or ill to fight