What Does Exodus 34:10 Mean?
And he said, Behold, I cut a covenant. Before all your people I will do wonders, such as have not been created in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people in whose midst you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is a thing of awe that I will do with you.
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
And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.THE KEY
The covenant takes visible form in wonders so far beyond the ordinary that an entire people sees them together.
THE MEANING
The covenant reaches you through work made visible among a people; it is not only a promise spoken in private. The marvels exceed what can be treated as ordinary, and the act carries fearsome awe. You are inside the witness: the work happens among you, and you see it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a covenant is only an invisible promise: here, its work is seen among the people.
THE ROOT
נִפְלָאוֹת
nifla'ot
GROWS FROM
פלא
To be extraordinary or marvelous, beyond ordinary measure.
“wonders” in this verse is nifla'ot. The Hebrew word points to acts that exceed the familiar, not merely events that surprise. The verse joins that extraordinariness to public witness: the people see the work among them.
ALSO GROWS
pele: Wonder; an extraordinary thing.
פֶּלֶא
This same root appears in Exodus 15:11, where the LORD is praised for doing wonders.
hiphli': To do wonderfully; to act extraordinarily.
הִפְלִיא
This verb form echoes the promise to do marvels, showing the word carries the action of making the extraordinary manifest.
נוֹרָא
nora
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear or stand in awe.
“a thing of awe” in this verse is nora. The root holds fear and awe together, so “terrible” carries more than modern English’s sense of bad or unpleasant. The deed remains fearsome: its scale overwhelms casual familiarity.
ALSO GROWS
yare: To fear; to stand in awe.
יָרֵא
The verb makes the response to the work part of the verse’s meaning: the act inspires fear and awe.
yir'ah: Fear; awe.
יִרְאָה
This noun shows the response is not mere admiration but a trembling recognition of what is beyond ordinary measure.
THE PATTERN
A people become witnesses when extraordinary works are done among them and seen with their own eyes.
Or has God tried to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great awe, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?A Psalm. Sing to the LORD a new song, for he works wonders. His right hand and his set-apart arm deliver him.Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man shown forth by God among you through works of strength and wonders and signs, which God did through him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.THE THREAD
Who is like you among the mighty ones, O LORD? Who is like you, majestic in being set apart, awe-inspiring in praises, doing wonders?Both verses use פלא (pala’), meaning “to be extraordinary,” for the wonders the LORD does. The work promised in Exodus 34:10 is the same wonder that Exodus 15:11 gives voice to in praise.
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