Exodus Chapter 12 verse 38 Holy Bible
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
read chapter 12 in ASV
And a mixed band of people went with them; and flocks and herds in great numbers.
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And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks and herds -- very much cattle.
read chapter 12 in DARBY
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
read chapter 12 in KJV
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very many cattle.
read chapter 12 in WBT
A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much cattle.
read chapter 12 in WEB
and a great rabble also hath gone up with them, and flock and herd -- very much cattle.
read chapter 12 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 38. - A mixed multitude went up also with them. Kalisch supposes that these strangers were native Egyptians, anxious to escape the tyranny of the kings. Canon Cook suggests that they were "remains of the old Semitic population" of the Eastern provinces. Perhaps it is more probable that they consisted of fugitives from other subject races (as the Shartana) oppressed by the Pharaohs. We have again mention of this "mixed multitude" in Numbers 11:4, where we find that they were the first to regret the "flesh and the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlick" which they had eaten in Egypt freely (ib. 5). They thus set a bad example, which the Israelites followed. And flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. Compare Exodus 10:26. It has been noticed that this is important, as lessening the difficulties connected with the sustentation of the Israelites in the wilderness. But it increases, on the other hand, the difficulties connected with the march, and with the possibility of finding pasture for such large flocks and herds in the Sinaitic peninsula.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(38) A mixed multitude went up also with them.--Nothing is told us of the component elements of this "mixed multitude." We hear of them as "murmuring" in Numbers 11:4, so that they seem to have remained with Israel. Some may have been Egyptians, impressed by the recent miracles; some foreigners held to servitude, like the Israelites, and glad to escape from their masters. It is noticeable that the Egyptian writers, in their perverted accounts of the Exodus, made a multitude of foreigners (Hyksos) take part with the Hebrews.
