Exodus 9:12

12 But the LORD hardened ^[a] Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses.

Exodus 9:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 9:12

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh
He having often, and so long hardened his own heart, God gave him up to judicial hardness of heart, to his own corruptions, the temptations of Satan, and the lying magicians about him, to make an ill use of everything that offered to him, and put a wrong construction on all that befell him, so that whatever was said to him, or inflicted on him, made no impression to any purpose: and he hearkened not unto them;
to Moses and Aaron, and to the Lord by them: as the Lord had spoken to Moses;
both that he would harden his heart, and he should not hearken to them; all this was no other than what the Lord had said should be, ( Exodus 4:21 ) ( 7:4 ) .

Exodus 9:12 In-Context

10 So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast.

11 The magicians could not stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and on all the Egyptians.

12 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses.

13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

14 Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or stiffened or strengthened; also in verse 35