A finger can be a bodily detail, part of an action or an image through which a passage speaks about God's work. Exodus records the magicians calling the plague the finger of God after their own efforts fail.
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Full entry for אֶצְבַּע (H676) · Open the biblical lexicon
A finger can be a bodily detail, part of an action or an image through which a passage speaks about God's work. Exodus records the magicians calling the plague the finger of God after their own efforts fail.
The BSB source-word alignment has 31 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include with his finger (6), his finger (3), by the finger (2), fingers (2), forefinger (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 8:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (13), Isaiah (4), Exodus (3), 2 Samuel (2).
A finger can be a bodily detail, part of an action or an image through which a passage speaks about God's work. Exodus records the magicians calling the plague the finger of God after their own efforts fail. Later, the tablets given to Moses are described as inscribed by the finger of God. Isaiah calls for the removal of the pointing finger together with oppressive burdens and malicious speech.
The expression therefore cannot receive one spiritual interpretation wherever it appears. A divine-work image and a human gesture have different speakers and purposes. Readers should notice who acts or speaks, what is attributed to God and what behavior is challenged. Isaiah's warning against malicious pointing must not be used to silence a truthful report of harm.
The magicians' recognition, the inscribed tablets and Isaiah's condemned pointing gesture give fingers different functions. Speaker, action and surrounding instruction govern the explanation.
“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
The magicians attribute the plague to God's finger after failing to reproduce it, while Pharaoh still refuses to listen.
When the Lord had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
God gives Moses stone tablets inscribed by His finger after speaking on Sinai, attributing the testimony to divine action.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,
The pointing finger stands beside the yoke and malicious talk in a call to remove oppression and care for hungry people.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Literal digit whose root meaning emphasizes manual grasping capacity; extends metaphorically to divine action.
Literal digit whose root meaning emphasizes manual grasping capacity; extends metaphorically to divine action.
something to sieze with, i.e. a finger; by analogy, a toe BDB: finger Usage: finger, toe.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 31 lexical occurrence verses.
אֶצְבַּע is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Isaiah places the pointing finger within a practical challenge: remove the yoke and malicious talk, give to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted. The gesture cannot be separated from those actions and made into a ban on accountability. Exodus uses finger language differently, both in the magicians' acknowledgment of a power they cannot reproduce and in God's gift of the inscribed tablets.
Their acknowledgment does not erase Pharaoh's continued refusal to listen. These distinctions help a teacher keep divine action, reported speech and human conduct apart while honoring each passage. The word does not supply a hidden anatomy of God or a rule that every gesture is spiritually charged. Its explanation becomes clear through the speaker, the surrounding verbs and the conduct explicitly praised or challenged.
Isa.58.9
The licensed Hebrew noun includes finger and related bodily usage. Selected divine-action imagery and a human pointing gesture need different explanations; the noun itself does not establish divine physical anatomy or forbid all accusation.
Luke 11:20 explicitly connects Jesus' driving out demons by the finger of God with the kingdom's arrival. The saying supplies that claim through Jesus' argument. It can be compared with Exodus' divine-action language without giving every human gesture the same authority or power.