Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

EXODUS 32:12KJV
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Exodus 32:12 (KJV)

What does Exodus 32:12 mean?

Exodus 32:12 records Moses asking God not to destroy the people he brought out of Egypt. Moses argues that such destruction would lead the Egyptians to say that God had rescued the people with a harmful purpose in mind.

Moses is speaking to God after the people have made a golden calf and worshipped it. His question focuses on how the Egyptians would interpret the rescue: they might see the journey into the mountains as a plan to kill the people.

The Hebrew behind Exodus 32:12

  • “mischief” — רָעָה (raʿah): Here the word carries the sense of harm or a bad purpose. The Egyptians would claim that God intended harm from the start.
  • “repent” — נָחַם (naḥam): The word can describe a change of mind or course. Moses asks God to reconsider the threatened disaster against the people.
  • “evil” — רָעָה (raʿah): Here the word refers to disaster or calamity. The same Hebrew word lies behind both “mischief” and “evil” in this verse, though the KJV translates them differently.

Why Exodus 32:12 matters

  • Moses appeals to what the Egyptians would think about God’s actions. His question begins, “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak,” tying his request to the meaning others would give the rescue.
  • Moses calls the Israelites “thy people.” After their worship of the calf, he still addresses them as the people belonging to God.
  • The surrounding passage shows an answer to Moses’s request. In verse 14, the KJV says that the Lord “repented of the evil” he had said he would do to his people.

Where else these words appear

“fierce” Hebrew H2740 · used in 40 verses

  • Exodus 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
  • Job 20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
  • Jeremiah 25:38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

“repent” Hebrew H5162 · used in 100 verses

  • Genesis 5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
  • Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
  • Jeremiah 18:10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.