What Does Exodus 5:2 Mean?
And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should hear and respond to his voice to let Israel go? I have never known the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.
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 Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.THE KEY
The verse joins “I know not” to “I will not let go”: refusing to recognize the voice becomes a decision to keep hold.
THE MEANING
The voice of constriction asks, “Who has authority over what I hold?” and makes refusal sound like ignorance. The verse shows denial becoming action: not recognizing the voice is joined to refusing release. The claim to freedom remains present even when the holder refuses to name it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that refusal becomes legitimate merely because the holder says “I do not know” is exposed: claimed ignorance and the choice to keep hold stand together.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁלֵּחַ
le-shalleaḥ
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send forth; release, let go.
“to let Israel go” in this verse is le-shalleaḥ. The same Hebrew verb names both the requested release and Pharaoh’s refusal. English preserves “let go,” while shalach also carries the force of sending someone forth from the hand that holds them.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away, dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes release an active sending out, not simply the absence of restraint.
Shiloach: Sent; the name of the waters of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name carries the same sending-forth image: what is sent out can become a path toward restoration.
אֶשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ
’eshma beqolo
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear and respond.
“hear and respond to his voice” in this verse is ’eshma beqolo. The Hebrew says, literally, “hear his voice,” where the KJV gives “obey.” The root joins hearing with response, so the question is whether the voice will be answered, not merely whether it can be heard.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
The familiar form makes the response within hearing explicit.
shemuah: A report, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch begins with what reaches the ear; in the verse, hearing becomes the question of response.
יָדַעְתִּי
yada‘ti
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know, perceive through encounter.
“I have never known the LORD” in this verse is yada‘ti. Yada can carry knowing through encounter and recognition, beyond possession of information. Here the claim “I know not” stands beside a refusal to release, revealing how claimed nonrecognition can keep a grip in place.
ALSO GROWS
yada: Know, perceive.
יָדַע
The verb names the recognition Pharaoh says is absent.
daat: Knowledge, understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun shows the same root’s movement from knowing to what is known.
THE PATTERN
Those who treat another’s freedom as theirs to grant reveal their power by whether they release the one held.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Plead with the LORD, that he may turn the frogs aside from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may slaughter to the LORD.And if your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send him out from you unbound.The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.THE THREAD
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Plead with the LORD, that he may turn the frogs aside from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may slaughter to the LORD.The same root, שׁלח (shalach), names release in both verses, making the question concrete: who can keep another under their hand? Here release is refused; in Exodus 8:8 it is offered conditionally, showing how a grip tries to bargain.
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