He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
Parallel translations
- WEB He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.
- BSB whose hearts He turned to hate His people, to conspire against His servants.
- NKJV He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants.
- NASB ¶He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal cunningly with His servants.
- NLT Then he turned the Egyptians against the Israelites, and they plotted against the Lord’s servants.
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 allowed the Egyptians' hearts to turn against Israel in hostility. It matters because even opposition unfolds within God's sovereign plan.
Overview
As Israel multiplied, the Egyptians grew to fear and oppress them (Exodus 1:8-14). The psalm acknowledges God's overruling hand even in this hostility, without excusing the oppressors' guilt. The setting of bondage prepared the stage for the Exodus, God's mighty act of redemption and a pattern of the greater deliverance in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Acts 7:19The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
- Gen 15:13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
- Exod 9:16And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
- Exod 1:16And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
- Rom 9:17–19For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
- Exod 4:21And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
- Exod 10:1And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:
- Exod 1:8–14Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
- Deut 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
- Exod 2:23And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 105:25 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.