Exodus Chapter 4 verse 22 Holy Bible
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, my first-born:
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And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons:
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And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah: Israel is my son, my firstborn.
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And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
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And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my first-born.
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You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
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and thou hast said unto Pharaoh, Thus said Jehovah, My son, My first-born `is' Israel,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 22. - Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son. This would be addressing Pharaoh in language familiar to him. Each Egyptian monarch of this period was accustomed to style himself, "son of the Sun," and to claim and expect the constant favour and protection of his divine parent. It was also quite within the range of Egyptian ideas that God should declare himself by word of mouth to his special favourites, and give directions as to their actions. (See 'Records of the Past,' vol. 4. p. 43.) My firstborn. Not only "as dear to me as to a father his firstborn" (Kalisch), but the only nation that I have adopted, and taken into covenant, so as to be unto me "a peculiar people above all the nations that are upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 14:2). Israel's sonship is here mentioned for the first time.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(22) Israel is my son.--Compare Hosea 11:1. This tender relation, now first revealed, is not a mere metaphor, meaning "as dear to me as a son," but a reality. The Israel of God enjoys the sonship of adoption by being taken into the True Son, and made one with Him (Romans 8:14-17).My first ? born.--Admitted to sonship in the Messiah before the other nations of the earth.