And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
- BSB Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
- 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, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- Rom 9:4Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
- Heb 12:23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
- Jer 31:9They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
- Deut 14:1Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
- Isa 63:16Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.
- Isa 64:8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
- Jas 1:18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
- 2 Cor 6:18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith 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.