For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’
Parallel translations
- WEB Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’
- KJV For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
- NKJV For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’
- NASB For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
- NLT Then Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are confused. They are trapped in the wilderness!’
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
God foretells that Pharaoh will misread Israel's position as hopelessly trapped, drawing him into pursuit.
Overview
Pharaoh will interpret Israel's encampment as the blunder of a confused people hemmed in by the desert. What looks like Israel's vulnerability is in fact God's bait, luring Egypt to its judgment. The Lord governs even the reasoning of His enemies, turning their misjudgments into instruments of His purpose.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Acts 4:28They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen.
- Ezek 38:17This is what the Lord GOD says: Are you the one of whom I have spoken in former days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who in those times prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?
- 1 Sam 23:23Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
- Ps 3:2Many say of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah
- Ps 139:2You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- Ezek 38:10–11This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
- Ps 71:11saying, “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
- Exod 7:3–4But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
- Jer 20:10–11For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”
- Deut 31:21And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”
- Ps 139:4Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.
- 1 Sam 23:7When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”
- Judg 16:2When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 14:3 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.