What Does Exodus 9:35 Mean?
And the heart of Pharaoh was gripped, and he would not let the children of Israel go, as the LORD had spoken by the hand of 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 heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.THE KEY
The verse reveals hardening by what it refuses to release: a firm heart keeps a whole people within Pharaoh’s grip.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two movements together: Pharaoh’s heart stands firm, and the children of Israel remain held because he will not send them away. For you now, it makes visible how a heart’s certainty can become a grip that keeps others confined. The LORD’s spoken word stands beside the refusal; Pharaoh’s resistance does not erase what has been spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that an unyielding heart is always strength: firmness can be the force that keeps people bound.
THE ROOT
וַיֶּחֱזַק
wayyechezaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
chazaq
Be strong, become firm, hold fast.
“gripped” in this verse is wayyechezaq. The Hebrew word carries the sense of becoming strong or firm, bringing hardening close to strength. The refusal that follows shows what that firmness does here: it keeps a people from being released.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Be strong; grow firm.
חָזַק
This is the root’s basic movement toward strength and firmness, which gives “hardened” a sense of becoming fixed.
hecheziq: Strengthen; take hold.
הֶחֱזִיק
The idea of taking hold illuminates how firmness can become a grip that maintains control.
שִׁלַּח
shillach
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
Send forth, send away, release.
“let the children of Israel go” in this verse is shillach. Here “let ... go” names the concrete act of sending a people out from Pharaoh’s control. The same release-word stands behind Moses’ demand, “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1), so the verse makes Pharaoh’s refusal the direct opposite of release.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away; dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This noun carries the root’s sense of sending someone away, like the release Pharaoh withholds.
mishloach: A sending; a dispatch.
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This branch preserves the root’s movement outward: what is sent is no longer held in place.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
mashah
Draw out, especially out of water.
The verse names Moses as the one through whom the LORD’s word is spoken; the Hebrew story of his name connects him with being drawn out of water. The one drawn out now speaks a word calling others out from Pharaoh’s grip.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: Draw out.
מָשָׁה
In Exodus 2:10, the name is linked to Pharaoh’s daughter drawing Moses out of the water.
Mosheh: Moses; the name linked with being drawn out.
מֹשֶׁה
The name carries the memory of a life drawn out, echoing the release Moses speaks for others.
THE PATTERN
A heart’s stance becomes visible in whether the vulnerable remain held or are released.
And Pharaoh made his heart heavy this time also, and would not let the people go.If there is among you one in want, from one of your brothers, within any of your gates in the land the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your brother, the one in want.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
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.Moses’ demand and Pharaoh’s refusal use the same root, שלח (shalach, send forth or release). The two verses place the same action on opposite sides: send the people out, or keep them confined.
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