Exodus 14:3 (ASV)

Passage

And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

Nearby Context

Exodus 14:1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

Exodus 14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea.

Exodus 14:3 And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh`s heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host: and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah. And they did so.

Exodus 14:5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "pharaoh", "children", "israel", "entangled", "land", "wilderness", "hath", and "shut". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pharaoh" and "children", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Speak unto the children of Israel that..." into verse 4's "And I will harden Pharaoh s heart...", so "pharaoh" and "children" belong inside that flow. In Exodus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "pharaoh" and "children" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.