^8:25Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.”⁵⁹^8:26But Moses said, “That would not be the right thing to do,⁶⁰ for the sacrifices we make⁶¹ to the Lord our God would be an abomination⁶² to the Egyptians.⁶³ If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes,⁶⁴ will they not stone us?⁶⁵

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Footnotes

59 After the plague is inflicted on the land, then Pharaoh makes an appeal. So there is the familiar confrontation (vv. 25–29). Pharaoh’s words to Moses are an advancement on his previous words. Now he uses imperatives: “Go, sacrifice to your God.” But he restricts it to “in the [this] land.” This is a subtle attempt to keep them as a subjugated people and prevent their absolute allegiance to their God. This offered compromise would destroy the point of the exodus—to leave Egypt and find a new allegiance under the Lord.
60 The clause is a little unusual in its formation. The form נָכוֹן (nakhon) is the Niphal participle from כּוּן (kun), which usually means “firm, fixed, steadfast,” but here it has a rare meaning of “right, fitting, appropriate.” It functions in the sentence as the predicate adjective, because the infinitive לַעֲשּׂוֹת (la’asot) is the subject—“to do so is not right.”
61 This translation has been smoothed out to capture the sense. The text literally says, “for the abomination of Egypt we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God.” In other words, the animals that Israel would sacrifice were sacred to Egypt, and sacrificing them would have been abhorrent to the Egyptians.
62 An “abomination” is something that is off-limits, something that is tabu. It could be translated “detestable” or “loathsome.”
63 U. Cassuto (Exodus, ) says there are two ways to understand “the abomination of the Egyptians.” One is that the sacrifice of the sacred animals would appear an abominable thing in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the other is that the word “abomination” could be a derogatory term for idols—we sacrifice what is an Egyptian idol. So that is why he says if they did this the Egyptians would stone them.
64 Heb “if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians [or “of Egypt”] before their eyes.”
65 The interrogative clause has no particle to indicate it is a question, but it is connected with the conjunction to the preceding clause, and the meaning of these clauses indicate it is a question ( §150.a).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go sacrifice to your God within the country.”

But Moses said, “It would not be right to do that, because what we will sacrifice to the Lord our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what the Egyptians detest in front of them, won’t they stone us?

NLTNew Living Translation

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “All right! Go ahead and offer sacrifices to your God,” he said. “But do it here in this land.”

But Moses replied, “That wouldn’t be right. The Egyptians detest the sacrifices that we offer to the Lord our God. Look, if we offer our sacrifices here where the Egyptians can see us, they will stone us.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and he said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.” And Moses said, “To do so is not right, because we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God a thing detestable to the Egyptians. Look, if we sacrifice before their eyes the thing detestable to the Egyptians, will they not stone us?

KJV 1900King James Version

And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

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