What Does Exodus 9:35 Mean in the King James?
And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.
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
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.
“hardened” 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.
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 hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: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 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.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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