Bible Strands
Exodus 9:17
Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Pharaoh during the plague negotiations, positioned between His declaration of sovereign purpose in Exodus 9:16 and His warning of the impending hail in Exodus 9:18.
The words — The Hebrew מִסְתּוֹלֵל (mis.to.Lel) literally means "exalting yourself," directly describing Pharaoh's self-assertion against divine command.
The thread — The text's confrontation of human arrogance against divine authority runs through Job 9:4, Job 15:25, and Job 40:9, where resisting God's power is consistently depicted as futile.
Why it lands — The passage states that refusing to release God’s people is an active claim of superiority over divine authority, requiring the reader to confront the reality that human power cannot override God's sovereign will.
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
As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?
Cross-references
- Job 9:4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- Job 15:25 For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,
- Job 40:9 Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- Isaiah 10:15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!
- Isaiah 26:11 O LORD, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them!
- Isaiah 37:23 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- Isaiah 37:29 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Acts 12:23 Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?