Exodus 5:2

But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Pharaoh delivers this reply to Moses and Aaron immediately after they announce Yahweh’s command to release Israel for a wilderness feast.

The words — The Hebrew מִ֤י יְהוָה֙ (mi Yahweh) literally asks “Who is Yahweh?” and the phrase אֶשְׁמַ֣ע בְּ/קֹל֔/וֹ (eshma beqolo) states “I will listen to His voice,” framing obedience as a question of recognized authority.

The thread — This rhetorical defiance parallels Job 21:15’s challenge to serve the Almighty and 2 Kings 18:35’s doubt that Yahweh can rescue Jerusalem, while Exodus 3:19 establishes the divine knowledge that force will be required to move the king.

Why it lands — The verse requires a reader to acknowledge that human authority can explicitly reject divine command, and that God’s response to such refusal is sovereign compulsion rather than persuasion.

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

וַיֹּ֣אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he said פַּרְעֹ֔הpar.'OhPharaoh מִ֤יmiwho?יְהוָה֙Yah.weh[is] Yahweh אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherthat אֶשְׁמַ֣ע'esh.Ma'I will listen בְּקֹל֔וֹbe./ko.L/oto/ voice/ his לְשַׁלַּ֖חle./sha.Lachby/ letting go אֶת־'et-<obj.>יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'ElIsrael לֹ֤אlo'not יָדַ֙עְתִּי֙ya.Da'.tiI know אֶת־'et-<obj.>יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahweh וְגַ֥םve./Gamand/ also אֶת־'et-<obj.>יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'ElIsrael לֹ֥אlo'not אֲשַׁלֵּֽחַ׃'a.sha.Le.achI will let go

King James Version

And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.

Cross-references

Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him.
Job 21:15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
2 Kings 18:35 Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
John 16:3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
Romans 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
2 Thessalonians 1:8 in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
2 Chronicles 32:15 So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!”
2 Chronicles 32:19 They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth—the work of human hands.
Psalms 10:4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.

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