Keluaran 7:3

7:3 But I will harden ¹  Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply ²  my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt,

Keluaran 7:13

7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, ³  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Keluaran 7:22-23

7:22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same ⁴  by their secret arts, and so ⁵  Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ⁶  and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron ⁷  – just as the Lord had predicted. 7:23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this. ⁸ 

[7:3]  ¹ tn The clause begins with the emphatic use of the pronoun and a disjunctive vav (ו) expressing the contrast “But as for me, I will harden.” They will speak, but God will harden.

[7:3]  sn The imperfect tense of the verb קָשָׁה (qasha) is found only here in these “hardening passages.” The verb (here the Hiphil for “I will harden”) summarizes Pharaoh’s resistance to what God would be doing through Moses – he would stubbornly resist and refuse to submit; he would be resolved in his opposition. See R. R. Wilson, “The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart,” CBQ 41 (1979): 18-36.

[7:3]  ² tn The form beginning the second half of the verse is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, הִרְבֵּיתִי (hirbeti). It could be translated as a simple future in sequence after the imperfect preceding it, but the logical connection is not obvious. Since it carries the force of an imperfect due to the sequence, it may be subordinated as a temporal clause to the next clause that begins in v. 4. That maintains the flow of the argument.

[7:13]  ³ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.

[7:13]  sn For more on this subject, see B. Jacob, Exodus, 241-49. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 53) notes that when this word (חָזַק) is used it indicates a will or attitude that is unyielding and firm, but when כָּבֵד (kaved) is used, it stresses the will as being slow to move, unimpressionable, slow to be affected.

[7:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “thus, so.”

[7:22]  ⁵ tn The vav consecutive on the preterite introduces the outcome or result of the matter – Pharaoh was hardened.

[7:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

[7:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “to them”; the referents (Moses and Aaron) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:23]  ⁸ tn The text has וְלֹא־שָׁת לִבּוֹ גַּם־לָזֹאת (vÿlo’-shat libbo gam-lazo’t), which literally says, “and he did not set his heart also to this.” To “set the heart” to something would mean “to consider it.” This Hebrew idiom means that he did not pay attention to it, or take it to heart (cf. 2 Sam 13:20; Ps 48:13; 62:10; Prov 22:17; 24:32). Since Pharaoh had not been affected by this, he did not consider it or its implications further.