"With a strong hand and an outstretched arm" () is a phrase used in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

to describe

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

's use of his power on behalf of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, particularly during the Exodus.

Origin

The phrase is used many times in the Bible to describe God's powerful deeds during the Exodus: Exodus 6:6,

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

4:34 5:15 7:19 9:29 11:2 26:8,

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

136:12. The phrase is also used to describe other past or future mighty deeds of God, in the following sources: II Kings 17:36,

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

21:5 27:5 32:17, Ezekiel 20:33 20:34, II Chronicles 6:32. A shortened version ("with a strong hand") is also used to refer to the Exodus: in Exodus 3:19 6:1 13:9 13:16 32:11 among other places.

In Exodus

In Exodus 6 ( Parshat Va'eira in the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

has just reiterated to God the complaint of the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

that things have gotten worse for them every time he has gone to the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

on their behalf; in this case, the paraoh has ruled that they shall henceforward make bricks without straw. God replies to Moses that the time will come when the pharaoh himself will drive the Israelites out of Egypt, and that, on behalf of his covenant with the

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

s, God will redeem the Israelites ''with a strong hand and an outstretched arm'', so that they will know him. Moses and

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

did not reply directly to the Israelites regarding their complaint, but when Moses conveys this reply from God to the Israelites, it fails to lift their spirits. The implication is that God will provide a lesson to both the Israelites and the nations of the world, showing his power and the futility of trying to resist it, as well as his willingness to use his power on behalf of his Covenant. To achieve this, the pharaoh must have been seen not to be freeing the Israelites as an act of benevolence, but instead to be adamantly resistant at first, then changing his mind to the point where he drives them to leave, due only to his eventual reluctant submission to God's might. This concept is repeated in the recount of the Plague of Hail. This serves as the introduction to the demonstrations of God's power, beginning with Aaron's Rod and followed by the Ten

Plagues of Egypt In the Book of Exodus, the Plagues of Egypt () are ten disasters that the Hebrew God inflicts on the Biblical Egypt, Egyptians to convince Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus, the Pharaoh to emancipate the enslaved Israelites, each of th ...

. The phrase has come to have great value in Judaic tradition as the symbol of God's use of his power on behalf of the Jews. It is repeated verbatim in

26:8, which describes the commandment to

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

first fruits and which is read with emphasis in the Passover Haggadah and Seder.

Egyptian parallels

In ancient Egyptian royal literature, a

is frequently described as using his "mighty hand" or "outstretched arm" to perform mighty deeds. By describing God's defeat of Egypt in this language, the Bible argues that its God has outdone the greatest earthly leader.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:With A Strong Hand And An Outstretched Arm Passover Biblical phrases Book of Exodus