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Exodus 9 · a question people ask

When Pharaoh said "I have sinned", did he mean it?

In the text

Pharaoh says, "I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked" (9:27), and promises, "I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer" (9:28). The text doesn't describe what was in his heart as he said it. It gives Moses' answer, "But as for you and your servants, I know that you don’t yet fear the LORD God" (9:30), and it tells what happened next: "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants" (9:34). After the locusts he will say it again: "I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you" (10:16).

The verses

“Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the LORD; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you don’t yet fear the LORD God.””
Exodus 9:27-30 · World English Bible
“When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.”
Exodus 9:34 · World English Bible
“Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.”
Exodus 10:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 9

Exodus 9: No one like me in all the earth

Exodus 9 is the first time the narrator says "The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh" (9:12), yet it also says Pharaoh "hardened his heart" (9:34). In Hebrew his heart grows heavy, and the pestilence and the hail are heavy too. God says, "for this cause I have made you stand… that my name may be declared throughout all the earth" (9:16), words Paul quotes in Romans 9:17.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions