What Does Exodus 10:1 Mean?
And the LORD said to Moses, Come in to Pharaoh, for I have made heavy his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I may set these my signs in his midst.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And 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:THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “hardened” also gives kavod its sense of weight and honor: the heart is made heavy as the LORD’s signs are displayed.
THE MEANING
The verse places you before a stark claim: the LORD makes the heart heavy, including the hearts of Pharaoh’s servants, while setting signs before him. Its revelation unfolds alongside that weight, not after the resistance has lifted.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that divine signs appear only after human resistance yields is unsettled here: the verse places the signs alongside a heart the LORD makes heavy.
THE ROOT
הִכְבַּדְתִּי
hikbadti
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy, make heavy, or carry weight.
The verb translated “hardened” literally means “I made heavy.” The same root gives kavod its meanings of weight, honor, and glory, linking the heavy heart to the language of weight and honor.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty
כָּבֵד
This is the quality the verb assigns to the heart: it bears weight.
kavod: Weight, honor, glory
כָּבוֹד
The same root connects the heart’s heaviness with the weight associated with honor and glory.
THE PATTERN
The text places God’s power on display within the human conditions through which its signs are seen.
And for this very reason I have made you stand, so that I may show my strength in you, and that my name may be recounted throughout all the earth.For the writing says to Pharaoh, "For this very reason I have made you stand, so that I may show my strength in you, and that my name may be recounted throughout all the earth."Jesus answered, Neither has this man missed the mark, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be brought into the light in him.THE THREAD
I will strengthen the heart of the Great House, and he will pursue after them; I will show my weight upon the Great House and upon all his army, and the Egyptians will perceive that I am the LORD. And they did so.Exodus 14:4 uses כבד (k-b-d) in “I will be honoured upon Pharaoh,” the same root this verse uses for “I have made heavy.” The shared root joins the heart’s weight here to the language of divine honor there.
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