Bible Strands
Exodus 14:3
For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The passage records God’s prediction of Pharaoh’s future assessment of the Israelites immediately after Moses directs the camp to Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. God states this to Moses as the narrative transitions from the people’s obedience to the coming pursuit.
The words — The Hebrew נְבֻכִ֥ים (ne.vu.Khim) conveys a state of wandering in confusion or disarray, while סָגַ֥ר (sa.Gar) literally means to shut or box in. These terms frame Pharaoh’s tactical misreading of the Israelites’ divinely directed encampment as a fatal mistake.
The thread — This theme of divine foreknowledge and sovereign orchestration appears in Psalms 139:4, which notes God knows words before they are spoken, and Acts 4:28, which confirms events occur according to God’s predetermined will.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that human strategic assessments are subject to divine oversight. It places the burden of trust on the audience to accept that apparent entrapment serves a declared purpose.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Cross-references
- Acts 4:28 They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen.
- Psalms 139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.
- Ezekiel 38:17 This is what the Lord GOD says: Are you the one of whom I have spoken in former days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who in those times prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?
- Exodus 7:3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
- Deuteronomy 31:21 And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”
- 1 Samuel 23:7 When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”
- 1 Samuel 23:23 Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
- Psalms 3:2 Many say of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah
- Psalms 71:11 saying, “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
- Psalms 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.