Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Parallel translations
- WEB Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”
- BSB Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”
- NKJV come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”
- NASB Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, otherwise they will multiply, and in the event of war, they will also join those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”
- NLT We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Pharaoh proposes to deal shrewdly with Israel, fearing they might join Egypt's enemies and leave. His scheming launches a campaign of oppression.
Overview
Pharaoh's "wisdom" is worldly cunning set against God, and Scripture will show it turned to folly (Psalm 2). His fear that Israel might "escape out of the land" unwittingly anticipates the very exodus God has planned. Human plans against God's people become, in His hands, the occasion for His mightier deliverance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 83:3–4They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
- Acts 7:19The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
- Prov 1:11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
- Ps 105:25He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
- Ps 10:2The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
- Num 22:6Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
- Jas 3:15–18This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
- 1 Cor 3:18–20Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
- Prov 16:25There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
- Job 5:13He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
- Acts 23:12And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 1:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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