Bible Strands
Exodus 7:13
Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports the immediate result of Aaron’s staff swallowing the Egyptian magicians’ staffs, noting that Pharaoh’s heart remained unyielding and he refused to heed Moses and Aaron. This statement occurs at the first public confrontation following the initial sign in Egypt.
The words — The Hebrew וַיֶּחֱזַק (va.yechek) literally means "it was strong" or "it was made firm," applied here to Pharaoh’s לֵב (lev, heart). The phrase וְלֹא שָׁמַע (ve.lo shama), "and he did not listen," directly records his refusal to comply with the command to release Israel.
The thread — This dynamic of hardened resistance appears in Exodus 4:21, where God warns Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart before the plagues begin, and in Exodus 8:15, where Pharaoh hardens his own heart after the initial relief. The theme of deliberate deafness continues in Zechariah 7:11, which describes stubborn shoulders and stopped ears as active rejection of divine speech.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to note that Pharaoh’s refusal fulfills a prior divine declaration rather than operating outside sovereign oversight. It demands acknowledgment that royal defiance in this narrative is both historically real and theologically accounted for.
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
And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.
Cross-references
- Exodus 4:21 The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
- Exodus 8:15 When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.
- Zechariah 7:11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Exodus 10:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them,
- Exodus 10:20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
- Exodus 10:27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.
- 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.
- Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,
- Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.