Exodus 12:31

31 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, "Get out of here and be done with you - you and your Israelites! Go worship God on your own terms.

Exodus 12:31 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:31

And he called for Moses and Aaron by night
Not that Pharaoh went in person, but he sent his servants to call them; for they never saw his face more after he had drove them from his presence; but now was fulfilled what Moses told him, that his servants should come to him in a very suppliant manner, and entreat him and his people to get away in all haste, ( Exodus 10:28 Exodus 10:29 ) ( 11:8 ) . Where Moses and Aaron now were is not certain, probably in the city, or suburbs of it, where Pharaoh's palace was, for it is not likely that they were gone to Goshen:

and said, rise up;
from their beds in which they now were, being midnight:

and get ye forth from among my people, both ye and the children of
Israel;
even all of them, without any exception of women or children as before; and without limiting them to place or time, where they should go, and how long they should stay, and without obliging them to promise to return:

and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said;
as they had entreated they might, and as they had demanded in the name of the Lord that they should; to which now he gave his consent, though he afterwards repented of it.

Exodus 12:31 In-Context

29 At midnight God struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, right down to the firstborn of the prisoner locked up in jail. Also the firstborn of the animals.
30 Pharaoh got up that night, he and all his servants and everyone else in Egypt - what wild wailing and lament in Egypt! There wasn't a house in which someone wasn't dead.
31 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, "Get out of here and be done with you - you and your Israelites! Go worship God on your own terms.
32 And yes, take your sheep and cattle as you've insisted, but go. And bless me."
33 The Egyptians couldn't wait to get rid of them; they pushed them to hurry up, saying, "We're all as good as dead."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.