For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut 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.’
- BSB For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed 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 4:28For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
- Ezek 38:17Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
- 1 Sam 23:23See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.
- Ps 3:2Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
- Ps 139:2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
- Ezek 38:10–11Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
- Ps 71:11Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.
- Exod 7:3–4And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
- Jer 20:10–11For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
- Deut 31:21And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
- Ps 139:4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
- 1 Sam 23:7And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
- Judg 16:2And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall 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.