Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’
Parallel Translations
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Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’
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For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
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And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel: They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Exodus 14:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 4:28 to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.
- Exodus 7:3-4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
- Deuteronomy 31:21 It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised them.”
- 1 Samuel 23:7 Saul was told that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.”
- 1 Samuel 23:23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. It shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
- Psalms 3:2 Many there are who say of my soul, “There is no help for him in God.”
- Psalms 71:11 saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.”
- Psalms 139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
- Psalms 139:4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
- Jeremiah 20:10-11 For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.” But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.
- Ezekiel 38:10-11 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. You will say, ‘I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
- Ezekiel 38:17 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them?
- Judges 16:2 The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light; then we will kill him.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children…
Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They [are] entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Ver. 3. They are entangled.] Perplexed; intricated; they know not what to do, or which way to turn. Enemies watch opportunities, but oft miss of their meaning.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain There are enclosed with mountains, and garrisons, and deserts.
There are enclosed with mountains, and garrisons, and deserts.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel,....…
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel,.... The Septuagint version adds, "to his people", his ministers and courtiers, when he hears where they are:
they are entangled in the land; have lost their way, and got into places they cannot easily get out of, and are perplexed in their minds, and do not know what way to take or course to steer:
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the wilderness hath shut them in; or, "shut up the way to them" (n); the wilderness between the mountains the above mentioned traveller speaks of (o) the mountains of Gewoubee; these would stop their flight or progress to the southward, as those of the Attackah would do the same towards the land of the Philistines; the Red sea likewise lay before them to the east, while Pharaoh (could) close up the valley behind them, with his chariots and his horsemen; and which, no doubt, appeared very advantageous and encouraging to him, as it must be very distressing to the Israelites.
(n) "clausit viam illis", Pagninus, "praeclusit sese illis", Vatablus. (o) Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 309. Ed. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain They are entangled - Inclosed with mountains, and garrisons,…
They are entangled - Inclosed with mountains, and garrisons, and deserts.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. They are entangled in the land] God…
Verse 3. They are entangled in the land] God himself brought them into straits from which no human power or art could extricate them. Consider their situation when once brought out of the open country, where alone they had room either to fight or fly. Now they had the Red Sea before them, Pharaoh and his host behind them, and on their right and left hand fortresses of the Egyptians to prevent their escape; nor had they one boat or transport prepared for their passage! If they be now saved, the arm of the Lord must be seen, and the vanity and nullity of the Egyptian idols be demonstrated. By bringing them into such a situation he took from them all hope of human help, and gave their adversaries every advantage against them, so that they themselves said, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 14:3-4. Pharaoh will say they are entangled —…
Exo 14:3-4. Pharaoh will say they are entangled — He will presume that you are hemmed in between the rocks and the sea. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart — See note on Exo 4:21; Exo 7:13-14. The meaning is, that Pharaoh would take occasion, from the apparently distressed situation the Israelites were now in, enclosed with mountains, deserts, and Egyptian garrisons, to harden his heart. He would even be so desperate as to attempt to follow and bring them back again into their former state of bondage. I will be honoured upon Pharaoh — By the manifestation of my power and justice.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain They are entangled ... - The original intention of…
They are entangled ... - The original intention of Moses was to go toward Palestine by the wilderness: when that purpose was changed by God’s direction and they moved southwards, Pharaoh, on receiving information, was of course aware that they were completely shut in, since the waters of the Red Sea then extended to the Bitter Lakes. It is known that the Red Sea at some remote period extended considerably further toward the north than it does at present. In the time of Moses the water north of Kolsum joined the Bitter Lakes, though at present the constant accumulation of sand has covered the intervening space to the extent of 8000 to 10,000 yards.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain In. Between craggy mountains and the Red Sea. (Haydock)
In. Between craggy mountains and the Red Sea. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain the wilderness hath shut them in--Pharaoh, who would eagerly…
the wilderness hath shut them in--Pharaoh, who would eagerly watch their movements, was now satisfied that they were meditating flight, and he naturally thought from the error into which they appeared to have fallen by entering that defile, he could intercept them. He believed them now entirely in his power, the mountain chain being on one side, the sea on the other, so that, if he pursued them in the rear, escape seemed impossible.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. entangled, &c.] rather, perplexed, confused (Est_3:15, Joe_1:18) in…
3. entangled, &c.] rather, perplexed, confused (Est_3:15, Joe_1:18) in the land: they do not know which way to turn in order to escape: the wilderness (the Egyptian wilderness, S. of Wâdy Ṭumîlât) hath shut them in: the implicit thought being, They will not dream of crossing the sea; so we have but to follow them (v. 4), and they will be in our power.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Entangled in the land.—Literally, confused, perplexed. (Comp. Est_3:15.)…
(3) Entangled in the land.—Literally, confused, perplexed. (Comp. Est_3:15.) Pharaoh, seeing that the Israelites had placed the Bitter Lakes on their left, and were marching southward, in a direction which would soon put the Red Sea on one side of them and a desert region—that about the Jebel Atakah—on the other, thought that they must be quite ignorant of the geography, and have, as it were, “lost their way.” He observed, moreover, that “the wilderness had shut them in.” The desert tract between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea lay upon their left and in their front: they would soon be unable to proceed, and would not know which way to turn.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain They are entangled in the land. Or they are…
They are entangled in the land. Or they are confused," perplexed i.e.. they have lost their way. " Pharaoh could not conceive that they would have taken the route to the west of the Bitter Lakes, which conducted to no tolerable territory, unless they were hopelessly at sea with respect to the geography of the country. In this perplexity" of theirs he thought he saw his own opportunity. The wilderness hath shut them in. Pharaoh is thinking of his own wilderness," the desert country between the Nile valley and the Red Sea. This desert, he says, blocks their way, and shuts them in they cannot escape if he follows in their steps, for they will have the sea on one hand, the desert on the other, and in their front, while he himself presses upon their rear.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.