It shall not be so: but go ye men only, and sacrifice to the Lord: for this yourselves also desired. And immediately they were cast out from Pharao's presence.

Not so: go now, ye that are men, and serve Jehovah! for it is that ye have desired. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

not so! go now, ye who are men, and serve Jehovah, for that ye are seeking;' and one casteth them out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Not so; but let your males go and give worship to the Lord, as your desire is. This he said, driving them out from before him.

It will not be so. However, go only with the men, and sacrifice to the Lord. For this, too, is what you yourselves requested." And immediately they were cast out from the sight of Pharaoh.

Non sic, Ite nunc viri, et servite Jehovae: quia vos hoc postulastis. Et ejecit eos a facie Pharaonis.

Not so. He pretends to give them what they had asked at first, and thus accuses them of changeableness, because they do not persevere in the same determination. Whereas it is certain that the cause of his pertinacity in resisting was because he feared that the whole people should depart from Egypt. He knew, then, that what Moses required in God's name extended also to their little ones, else would he have not been enraged at it. But, in order to cast blame upon them, he falsely and calumniously reproaches them with having doubled their unjust demands, whilst he is exercising the greatest kindness, because he accedes to their original request. But he had no wish to rob the parents of their children, but to retain them as hostages; for he was persuaded that they would not willingly renounce pledges which were so dear to them. With respect to what is added at the end of the verse, "He drove them away from Pharaoh's presence," [1] some take it indefinitely, and understand "some one of his dependents;" but, since it is usual in Hebrew to omit the antecedent, and then to supply it in the place of the relative, I have no doubt that Pharaoh, perceiving Moses not to be contented with half of them, grew angry, and drove him out with renewed menaces, because he could not endure his presence.

Footnotes

1 - Vide Latin.

Not so,.... You shall not go with your children as you propose:
go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord, for that you did desire; suggesting that that was all they first required, that their men should, go three days into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto the Lord; whereas the demand was, let my people go, Exodus 5:1 which were not the men only, but the women and children also, and all were concerned in the service of God, and in keeping a feast to him:
and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence; by some of his officers, according to his orders.

they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence--In the East, when a person of authority and rank feels annoyed by a petition which he is unwilling to grant, he makes a signal to his attendants, who rush forward and, seizing the obnoxious suppliant by the neck, drag him out of the chamber with violent haste. Of such a character was the impassioned scene in the court of Egypt when the king had wrought himself into such a fit of uncontrollable fury as to treat ignominiously the two venerable representatives of the Hebrew people.