Exodus 18:4

4 and the other was named Eliezer,^[a] for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

Exodus 18:4 in Other Translations

4 And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

4 and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, "The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh").

4 His second son was named Eliezer, for Moses had said, “The God of my ancestors was my helper; he rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.”)

4 the name of the other was Eliezer (God's-Help) because "The God of my father is my help and saved me from death by Pharaoh."

4 and the other Eliezer (because [he had said,] "The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword").

Exodus 18:4 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 18:4

And the name of the other was Eliezer
Who seems to be his second son, and was that which was circumcised by Zipporah at the inn, and about which there was such a stir, ( Exodus 4:24-26 ) , and signifies "my God [is] help", or, his helper:

for the God of my father, [said he], was mine help, and delivered me
from the sword of Pharaoh;
who, on hearing that Moses had killed an Egyptian, was wroth with him, and sought to slay him; and perhaps drew his sword for that purpose, but was prevented: however, this, in all human probability, would have been the case, that he would have fallen by his sword either in a private or public manner, had it not been for the interposition of divine Providence, and therefore he gave this name to his child, to be a standing memorial of it.

Exodus 18:4 In-Context

2 After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her

3 and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”;

4 and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God.

6 Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

Cross References

• 1. 1 Chronicles 23:15
• 2. S Genesis 49:25; S Deuteronomy 33:29

Footnotes

• [a]. "Eliezer" means "my God is helper."