Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.
- KJV And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
- NKJV So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.
- NASB Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.
- NLT Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, and he still refuses to let the people 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
Yahweh diagnoses Pharaoh's heart as stubborn and unwilling to release Israel. This sets up the first plague as God's response.
Overview
God names Pharaoh's condition plainly: his heart is heavy and resistant, refusing to let the people go. This assessment justifies the escalating judgments about to fall on Egypt. The verse shows that God sees the true state of the heart, a reminder that no rebellion is hidden from Him and that only His intervention can turn a hardened heart, as He does through the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 10:27But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.
- Exod 8:15When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.
- Exod 10:20But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
- Exod 10:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them,
- Isa 1:20But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
- Exod 4:23and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”
- Zech 7:12They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.
- Exod 9:2But if you continue to restrain them and refuse to let them go,
- Heb 12:25See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Exod 8:2But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.
- Exod 10:4But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.
- Jer 9:6You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
- Jer 8:5Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
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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 7:14 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
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