The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
- KJV And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
- NKJV So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
- NASB Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
- NLT Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh, and your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet.
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 makes Moses 'as God' to Pharaoh and appoints Aaron as his prophet. This gives Moses divine authority to confront Egypt's king.
Overview
By making Moses 'as God to Pharaoh,' the Lord assigns him an authority that represents God Himself before the throne of Egypt, with Aaron speaking on his behalf as a prophet relays a master's word. This answers Moses' fear about his speech by reframing the whole encounter as God's confrontation, not Moses' own. The relationship pictures how God's word comes through appointed messengers, supremely through the Son who perfectly reveals the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Exod 4:15–16You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.
- Ps 82:6I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’
- John 10:35–36If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—
- Jer 1:10See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
- 1 Kgs 17:23Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.
- 2 Kgs 6:32Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
- Gen 19:21“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.
- Exod 16:29Understand that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He will give you bread for two days. On the seventh day, everyone must stay where he is; no one may leave his place.”
- Eccl 1:10Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
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 7:1 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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