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So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
Exodus 3:20 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
  • KJV And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
  • NKJV So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.
  • NASB So I will reach out with My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.
  • NLT So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go.

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 promises to strike Egypt with His wonders, after which Pharaoh will let Israel go. God's mighty acts will compel the release.

Overview

The "wonders" anticipate the ten plagues that will display God's supremacy over Egypt and its gods. Pharaoh's eventual release comes not from goodwill but from God's overwhelming power. This assures Moses that the outcome rests on God's hand, not on human persuasion.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Acts 7:36He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
  • Exod 9:15For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.
  • Deut 6:22Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household.
  • Neh 9:10You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, for You knew they had acted with arrogance against our fathers. You made a name for Yourself that endures to this day.
  • Exod 6:6Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
  • Exod 12:31–33Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
  • Ps 105:27They performed His miraculous signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.
  • Exod 11:8–9And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.” And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence.
  • Ps 105:38Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.
  • Exod 6:1But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
  • Judg 6:8He sent them a prophet, who told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
  • Exod 11:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt one more plague. After that, he will allow you to leave this place. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out completely.
  • Exod 7:3–5But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
  • Isa 26:11O LORD, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them!
  • Isa 19:22And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.
  • Ps 135:8–9He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast.
  • Deut 4:34Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
  • Gen 15:14But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.
  • Ezek 20:33As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath I will rule over you.
  • Jer 32:20–21You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and You do so to this very day, both in Israel and among all mankind. And You have made a name for Yourself, as is the case to this day.
  • Judg 8:16Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth.
  • Exod 12:39Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.
  • Acts 7:1–13Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
  • Ps 106:22wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 3:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 3:20 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.