What Does Exodus 23:5 Mean?
If you see the donkey of the one who hates you crouching under his load, and would hold back from helping him, you shall surely unload it with him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb rendered “help” also belongs to the word-family of leaving or forsaking, so the command turns on whether the enemy is left beneath the weight.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you as you see someone hostile to you with their animal collapsed beneath its load. The load becomes a shared task: the animal is not left under it, even while the hostility remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that someone who hates you forfeits all claim on your help.
THE ROOT
עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב
ʿāzōv taʿăzōv
GROWS FROM
עזב
Leave, forsake, abandon; in this repeated form, the phrase is understood as helping to unload.
“unload it with him” in this verse is ʿāzōv taʿăzōv. The repeated עזב here is rendered “help,” while the root also speaks of leaving or forsaking. That shared root makes the scene turn on whether the burdened animal is left beneath its load or someone helps remove it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāzav: To leave, abandon, or forsake
עָזַב
This common verb shows the root’s wider sense beneath the rendering “help.”
ʿazuvah: Forsaken, abandoned
עֲזוּבָה
This form names one who has been left; here, the command answers the possibility of leaving the animal under its burden.
מַשָּׂאוֹ
massa'o
GROWS FROM
נשא
Lift, carry, bear.
The word for the load comes from the root for lifting and bearing. English can make “help” sound abstract, but the Hebrew keeps the physical scene in view: weight borne by an animal and work done beside the person who owns it.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: To lift, carry, or bear
נָשָׂא
The root names the physical action required when the animal is beneath its load.
nāśîʾ: A leader or prince, one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This related form extends the root’s image of lifting into the idea of someone elevated.
THE PATTERN
A person’s hostility does not erase the claim of their immediate need on shared care.
You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen along the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely stand them up with him.If the one who hates you hungers, feed him bread; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink.But I say to you, love your enemies, speak well over those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse you and pursue you.THE THREAD
Hold fast and be firm. Do not fear, and do not quake before them. For the LORD your God is the one who walks with you. He will not release you, nor leave you.The Hebrew verb rendered “forsake” here is עָזַב (ʿāzav), meaning “leave” or “forsake”, the same root behind the repeated verb rendered “help” in Exodus 23:5. Here, not being forsaken is promised; there, help takes the concrete form of sharing the work beside a burdened animal.
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