What Does Exodus 5:21 Mean?
And they said to them, May the LORD look upon you and judge, for you have made our scent a stench in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to place a sword in their hand to slay us.
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 they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.THE KEY
The verse makes the threatened people’s “savour” a literal stench: their standing has become foul in Pharaoh’s eyes.
THE MEANING
Pressure can make movement toward release look like the cause of the danger. The verse names the stakes without softening them: contempt in Pharaoh’s sight and a sword in the hands of those who can kill. It holds threatened violence and the painful turn of blame together.
THE ROOT
הִבְאַשְׁתֶּם
hib'ashtem
GROWS FROM
באש
b-ʾ-sh
To stink or become foul; by extension, to become odious.
“stench” in this verse is hib'ashtem. Hebrew places the noun for scent beside a verb meaning to stink, turning social rejection into a sensory image. Their scent has become repellent under Pharaoh’s gaze.
ALSO GROWS
u-va'ash: Stinks or becomes foul.
וּבָאַשׁ
The same root describes the river’s literal stench in Exodus 7:18, showing the sensory force beneath “abhorred.”
nib'ash: Became repellent or hateful to others.
נִבְאַשׁ
In 1 Samuel 13:4, the root describes Israel becoming odious to the Philistines; here, too, rejection is expressed as foulness.
רֵיחֵנוּ
re'achenu
GROWS FROM
ריח
r-y-ḥ
Smell, scent, or odor.
The Hebrew keeps the scent inside the accusation: their “savour” is made to stink. The same scent word can describe an aroma received as pleasing elsewhere, so the image turns on how that scent is received.
ALSO GROWS
vayyaraḥ: Smelled or perceived an odor.
וַיָּרַח
In Genesis 8:21, this same root describes the LORD smelling a pleasing aroma, keeping the word grounded in literal scent.
re'ach nichoach: A pleasing or soothing scent.
רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ
The same noun names an aroma received as pleasing; here, that scent has become foul in Pharaoh’s eyes.
יֵרֶא
yera'
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
To see, look at, or perceive.
“look upon” in this verse is yera'. The appeal begins by asking the LORD to see the accusation and its consequences. Elsewhere, the same root can carry the sense of seeing to a need, adding the possibility of attention that acts.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: To see, look at, or perceive.
רָאָה
This is the basic sense of the verb in the appeal: the LORD is asked to look upon the situation.
yir'eh: Will see to or provide for something.
יִרְאֶה
In Genesis 22:8, the root is rendered “will provide”; seeing can mean seeing to what is needed, not merely watching.
THE PATTERN
Under threat, the agent of release can be mistaken for the source of the danger.
And they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done to us, to bring us out of Egypt?Why has the LORD brought us to this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our little ones should be prey? Would it not be better for us to turn back to Egypt?If we let him go on like this, all will lean their weight into him, and the Romans will come and lift away both our place and our nation.THE THREAD
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall grow weary of drinking the water of the river.The same באש (ba’ash, “stink”) root names the river’s literal stench there and the people’s rejection here. Paired with רֵיחַ (re’ach, “scent”), it makes their public standing foul in a bodily, unmistakable image.
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