Then you will tell him, ‘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:
- 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.
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 11:1“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- Rom 9:4who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;
- Heb 12:23to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
- Jer 31:9They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
- Deut 14:1You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
- Isa 63:16For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
- Isa 64:8But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
- Jas 1:18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
- 2 Cor 6:18I will be to you a Father. You will be to me 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.