Exodus 4:10

10 But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Exodus 4:10 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 4:10

And Moses said unto the Lord
Notwithstanding the above miracles, he seems unwilling to go on the Lord's errand to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, and therefore invents a new objection after all his other objections had been sufficiently answered: I am not eloquent;
or "a man of words" ^F19, that has words at command, that can speak well readily, and gracefully; such an one, he intimates, was proper to be sent to a king's court, that was an orator, that could make fine speeches, and handsome addresses, for which he was not qualified: neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant;
neither in his younger years had he ever been an eloquent man, nor was there any alteration in him in that respect, since God had given him this call: but I [am] slow of speech, and of a slow tongue;
had some impediment in his speech, could not freely and easily bring out his words, or rightly pronounce them; so Lucian ^F20 the Heathen calls Moses slow tongued, or one slow of speech, and uses the same word the Septuagint does here, which version perhaps he had seen, and from thence took it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Myrbd vya) "vir verborum", Paguinus, Montanus, Piscator, Ainsworth.
F20 In Philopatride.

Exodus 4:10 In-Context

8 The LORD said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign.

9 And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”

10 But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

11 Then the LORD asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD ?

12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”