Exodus 7:3
in Exodus 7But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
KJV
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
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This verse in Exodus 7
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Wonders - A word used only of portents performed to prove a divine interposition; they were the credentials of God’s messengers.
This site's exposition
multiply my signs and my wonders
This is the second of two announcements that God will harden Pharaoh, the first at 4:21, and both stand before a single plague has fallen. Through the first five plagues the text then puts the act on Pharaoh or leaves it stative, at 7:13, 7:14, 7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32 and 9:7, and 9:12 is the first place it says the LORD did it. Romans 9:17 quotes Exodus 9:16 and draws from it that whom he will he hardeneth. R. C. Sproul reads the sequence as one act with two true descriptions, holding that divine sovereignty and human responsibility are both real, and the free will reading takes the order of the statements as God confirming a man in the direction he had already taken.
The record, by era
The Reformation1 voice
As the expression is somewhat harsh, many commentators, as I have before said, take pains to soften it. Hence it is that some take the words in connection, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart by multiplying my signs;" as if God were pointing out the external cause of his obstinacy.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I will harden Pharaoh's heart--This would be the result. But the divine message would be the occasion, not the cause of the king's impenitent obduracy. I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--The succession of terrible judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַאֲנִ֥י | vaani | and I | H589 → | 874 times |
| אַקְשֶׁ֖ה | ʾaksheh | I will make stubborn | H7185 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לֵ֣ב | lev | [the] heart of | H3820 → | 595 times |
| פַּרְעֹ֑ה | paroh | Pharaoh | H6547 → | 274 times |
| וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧י | vehirbeiti | and I will multiply | H7235 → | 227 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֹתֹתַ֛י | ʾototai | signs my | H226 → | 80 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מוֹפְתַ֖י | moftai | wonders my | H4159 → | 36 times |
| בְּאֶ֥רֶץ | beeretz | in [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִצְרָֽיִם׃ | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
וַאֲנִ֥יand I
vaaniH589 →874 times
אַקְשֶׁ֖הI will make stubborn
ʾakshehH7185 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
לֵ֣ב[the] heart of
levH3820 →595 times
פַּרְעֹ֑הPharaoh
parohH6547 →274 times
וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧יand I will multiply
vehirbeitiH7235 →227 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֹתֹתַ֛יsigns my
ʾototaiH226 →80 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
מוֹפְתַ֖יwonders my
moftaiH4159 →36 times
בְּאֶ֥רֶץin [the] land of
beeretzH776 →2504 times
מִצְרָֽיִם׃Egypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 15:19by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 12:12
The true marks of an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles—were performed among you with great perseverance.
- 2 Corinthians 12:12
Through
Exodus 4:21The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that…
it leads to
- Romans 9:18
Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
- Exodus 14:8
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly.
- Joshua 11:20
For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD…
- Isaiah 63:17
Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
- Exodus 9:35
So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.
- Romans 9:18
Through
Acts 2:22Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.
it leads to
- John 3:2
He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were…
- Luke 11:20
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
- John 3:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Exodus
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony and John Calvin, Commentaries.