Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
- KJV And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
- NKJV Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.
- NASB Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.
- NLT Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son.
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 instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh that Israel is His son, His firstborn. The covenant nation belongs to God with the dignity and claim of a firstborn child.
Overview
For the first time God calls Israel His son and firstborn, language of adoption, love, and rightful inheritance. This establishes that Pharaoh's enslavement of Israel is an assault on God's own family. The sonship of Israel anticipates the deeper sonship fulfilled in Christ, the true firstborn Son, and in those adopted into God's family through Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Hos 11:1When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
- Rom 9:4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
- Heb 12:23in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
- Jer 31:9They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
- Deut 14:1You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
- Exod 19:5–6Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Isa 63:16Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
- Isa 64:8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- Jas 1:18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.
- 2 Cor 6:18And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:22 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.