What Does Exodus 9:12 Mean?
And the LORD gripped the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not hear and respond to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.
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 hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.THE KEY
The verse binds Pharaoh’s refusal to hear to a heart the LORD himself makes firm.
THE MEANING
The LORD makes Pharaoh’s heart firm, and Pharaoh does not hear them. The verse holds that refusal within what the LORD has spoken to Moses: divine agency and Pharaoh’s nonresponse stand together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that Pharaoh’s refusal is only an independent human act: it explicitly says the LORD makes his heart firm.
THE ROOT
וַיְחַזֵּק
wayḥazzēq
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong or firm; in this form, to strengthen or make firm.
“gripped” in this verse is wayḥazzēq. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of making Pharaoh’s heart firm or strong. The refusal that follows is presented as a settled condition under the LORD’s action.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
The root’s language of firmness gives depth to the KJV’s “hardened.”
heḥĕzîq: To grasp, hold, or maintain a firm hold.
הֶחֱזִיק
This branch echoes the way Pharaoh’s refusal holds its ground in the verse.
שָׁמַע
shāmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear or listen, with the sense of receiving and responding.
“did not hear and respond” in this verse is shāmaʿ. The verse’s “hearkened not” reaches beyond sound reaching the ear: Pharaoh does not receive the words as a response. The firm heart and the absence of responsive hearing stand together.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar form of the root holds hearing and response together, illuminating what Pharaoh withholds.
shemuʿah: A report or message received by hearing.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps the focus on what is heard; Pharaoh’s failure is a refusal to receive the message.
דִּבֶּר
dibber
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; the related noun can mean a word or a matter.
The final clause ties Pharaoh’s refusal to what the LORD has spoken to Moses. The related noun davar can mean both “word” and “matter,” joining the declaration to the matter unfolding.
ALSO GROWS
dāḇār: A word, thing, or matter.
דָּבָר
Its range lets the spoken word and the unfolding matter echo within one root-family.
dibber: Spoke or uttered.
דִּבֶּר
This is the verb used for what the LORD has said to Moses, framing the refusal as the fulfillment of that speech.
THE PATTERN
The verse presents Pharaoh’s refusal as both his response and an outcome the LORD has declared and enacts.
And the LORD said to Moses, When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders which I set in your hand, and do them before the face of Pharaoh. But I will grip his heart, and he will not let the people go.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.So then he shows faithful love to whom he wills, and whom he wills, he hardens.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Moses, When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders which I set in your hand, and do them before the face of Pharaoh. But I will grip his heart, and he will not let the people go.The same root, חזק (ḥ-z-q), names the LORD’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart here and in the earlier declaration to Moses. Exodus 9:12 shows that declared action taking place.
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