What Does Exodus 9:2 Mean in the King James?
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Release and restraint are opposite acts here: the people remain captive because someone keeps holding on.
THE MEANING
This verse names a living pattern: refusing release means actively continuing the grip. The people remain caught in another’s power, and that continuing hold is what the verse confronts.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that withholding is neutral or passive; continuing to hold people is itself a choice.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁלֵּחַ
leshalleach
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
š-l-ḥ
Send out; release or let go.
“let them go” in this verse is leshalleach. This verb holds sending and releasing together: the people are to be sent out from the grip that confines them. The line makes release a movement out of constriction, not merely a change in how captivity feels.
ALSO GROWS
shillēaḥ: Sent away; released.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This verb form shows the same root’s force as an act that sends someone out of another’s hold.
shālûaḥ: Sent; dispatched.
שָׁלוּחַ
The sent one has been moved outward, echoing the release demanded for the people.
mishlōaḥ: Sending; dispatch.
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This noun keeps the root’s outward movement visible: release is a sending forth.
מַחֲזִיק בָּם
maḥazīq bam
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
Be strong, make firm; in this form, hold fast.
“hold them still” in this verse is maḥazīq bam. The Hebrew describes an ongoing hold, not a passive failure to act. Beside שׁלח (š-l-ḥ, send out and release), it sets maintained grip against release: the confinement continues because the holding continues.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong; grow firm; strengthen.
חָזַק
The root’s force of firmness clarifies that this hold is maintained, not accidental.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen; make firm.
חִזֵּק
This related form makes the active force of keeping something firm explicit.
maḥazīq: Holding fast; grasping.
מַחֲזִיק
This is the form used in the verse, naming the continuing grip directly.
THE PATTERN
Freedom is obstructed wherever a hand keeps its grip after release has been demanded.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.The same שׁלח (š-l-ḥ, send out and release) verb returns in the demand, paired again with refusal. Its repetition makes the ongoing grip visible as a continuing choice.
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