Exodus 10:18-20 · Bible study
Exodus 10:18-20 Commentary: Why Moses Prayed
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Moses prays for Pharaoh even after God hardened his heart. The locusts are removed, but the king refuses to let Israel go.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Moses’ intercession succeeds in removing the locusts, but Pharaoh’s heart remains hardened, showing that answered prayer does not guarantee transformed will.
- Key words: “prayed” (עָתַר / a.tar), to entreat; “west wind” (רוּחַ יָם / ruach yam), literally “wind of the sea”; “Red Sea” (יַם סוּף / yam suph), Sea of Reeds; “hardened” (חָזַק / cha.zaq), to make strong, firm.
- Main debate: Does God’s hardening remove Pharaoh’s responsibility? Commentators note the passive (“hardened”) allows for both divine sovereignty and human accountability, without resolving the paradox.
- Theological theme: The relationship between prayer and divine sovereignty, God welcomes intercession even within a fixed plan, and the prayers are genuinely effective.
- Best use: A case study on praying for the unreachable or hostile. Suitable for lessons on intercession, God’s patience, and the repeated cycle of grace and refusal in the Exodus narrative.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
18So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD.
19And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.
20But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
WEB World English Bible 2000
18Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh.
19Yahweh sent an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
20But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go.
KJV King James Version 1769
18And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the Lord.
19And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.
20But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
18And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Jehovah.
19And Jehovah turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt.
20But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
18And he goeth out from Pharaoh, and maketh supplication unto Jehovah,
19and Jehovah turneth a very strong sea wind, and it lifteth up the locust, and bloweth it into the Red Sea--there hath not been left one locust in all the border of Egypt;
20and Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not sent the sons of Israel away.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
18And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated Jehovah.
19And Jehovah turned a very powerful west wind, which took away the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea: there remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
20And Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
18And Moses going forth from the presence of Pharao, prayed to the Lord:
19And he made a very strong wind to blow from the west, and it took the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea: there remained not so much as one in all the coasts of Egypt.
20And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Exodus 10:18
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree on the sequence: Moses prays to Yahweh after leaving Pharaoh, God sends a strong west wind that clears the locusts into the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s heart stays hardened so he does not send Israel away. Calvin notes that Moses did not pray because he thought Pharaoh was truly changed, but “to open God’s way for the remaining contests.” Keil and Delitzsch see the removal as a demonstration of “divine long-suffering” toward the hardened king. The physical means, a wind shift, are accepted by all, with Gill and Barnes pointing out that locusts commonly perish in seas when winds change. The line “but Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (v.20) is read by Cambridge as the repeated result in the E source: after each plague relief, the king refuses. No commentator claims that Moses’ prayer was wasted; rather, it shows God’s willingness to respond, even when judgment is certain.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Calvinist/Reformed view: God hardens Pharaoh as an act of judgment; Moses prays to display God’s patience and power, not to change God’s decree (Calvin).
- Arminian/Wesleyan view: Prayer can influence God’s actions; Pharaoh is hardened because he resists repeated grace, and God gives him over to his own choice (Wesley).
What is clear: God answered Moses’ prayer by completely removing the locusts, yet Pharaoh still refused to let Israel go.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Reason for Moses’ prayer | All commentators note Moses prayed publicly, outside Pharaoh’s presence, and God answered the prayer by removing the locusts. | Calvin sees the prayer as motivated by the Spirit to display God’s power, not by belief in Pharaoh’s conversion. Other traditions (e.g., Wesleyan) emphasize God’s willingness to relent from judgment when people intercede, even for the hardened. |
| The wind and natural means | The wind is understood as a real meteorological event, directed by God. Commentators cite Pliny and modern travelers to confirm locusts are often wind-borne into seas. | Some stress the natural mechanism to highlight God’s use of ordinary processes; others emphasize the timing and completeness as a miracle beyond normal chance. |
| God hardening Pharaoh’s heart | The verse states plainly that Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart. All traditions accept that God is sovereign over the king’s response. | Reformed readings (e.g., Calvin) see hardening as God’s act in judgment, consistent with Pharaoh’s prior rebellion. Arminian or Wesleyan readings object that God does not create fresh evil but confirms a heart already set against him, while still holding Pharaoh responsible. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The west wind that carried the locusts is called in Hebrew ruach yam, literally “wind of the sea.” Clarke explains that this wind blew from the Mediterranean Sea, which lies northwest of Egypt, driving the insects eastward into the Red Sea (the Yam Suph, or “Sea of Reeds”). The Red Sea, separating Egypt from Arabia, was not only a geographic boundary but later became the site of Israel’s deliverance (Exodus 13:18, 15:4).
Locust plagues were a recurring terror in the ancient Near East. A swarm could darken the sky and strip every green thing, as described in Exodus 10:14-15. The fact that “there remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt” (v.19) is emphatic: the removal was as complete as the invasion. Pliny the Elder (first century AD) notes that locusts often die when blown into seas or lakes, a natural pattern that here becomes a vehicle of divine action. Wesley observes that the wind “turns about by his counsel,” meaning God directs the weather to serve his purposes. For Egyptian readers, a “sea wind” from the Mediterranean would have been familiar; the miracle lies in the timing and the total sweep.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Exodus 10:18-20. The Hebrew is well preserved across manuscripts. The phrase “west wind” (ruach yam) and “Red Sea” (yam suph) appear consistently. The few differences among English versions (e.g., “entreated” vs. “prayed”) reflect translation choices, not variant readings.
Reception History
Early Christian writers such as Origen used this passage to illustrate the power of intercessory prayer even for enemies, linking it to Jesus’ command to pray for persecutors (Matthew 5:44). In the medieval period, the removal of the locusts was seen as a type of baptism, the plague swept into the sea as sins are washed away. Reformation commentators, especially Calvin, focused on the hardening theme, using it in discussions of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Modern readers across traditions wrestle with the pastoral question: does God ever turn a deaf ear to prayers for the hardened? The passage has also informed liturgical prayers for rulers and for rain, echoing the belief that God can change the weather in response to petition.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Prayer from the place of judgment. Moses leaves Pharaoh’s presence and appeals to Yahweh. He does not pray from the throne room but from outside, a deliberate separation, as Calvin notes, because the king is unworthy.
- God’s answer through natural elements. The west wind, turned by God, lifts the locusts and drives them to the Red Sea. The means are ordinary; the result is extraordinary: not one insect left.
- The heart that does not break. Despite the answered prayer, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. The liberation of Israel will not come through his cooperation but through further signs.
Five-point outline
- Moses leaves Pharaoh (v.18). The prophet exits the audience, creating a boundary between the king’s sin and the place of intercession.
- Moses prays (v.18). The Hebrew verb a.tar means to entreat or make supplication, a strong, earnest plea.
- Yahweh turns the wind (v.19). The verb ha.phakh (overturn, change) shows divine agency shifting the natural order.
- The locusts are carried away and drowned (v.19). The phrase “drove them into the Red Sea” uses ta.qa, meaning to thrust or drive with force, irresistible removal.
- Hardening and refusal (v.20). The same pattern from earlier plagues repeats: relief does not produce repentance.
Illustration hooks
- A teacher who continues to pray for a student who repeatedly chooses to break rules, even when the outcome seems fixed.
- A community that prays for rain during a drought, and the relief comes, but the hearts of those who had hoarded water do not change.
- A parent who intercedes daily for a child living far from God, trusting that God can act even when the child seems unmoved.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “If God already hardened Pharaoh’s heart, why did Moses bother praying?”
- “Does God ever change his mind about judgment when we pray?”
- “How do we keep praying for someone who seems to reject every grace?”
Leading a Discussion
These three verses compress a great tension: Moses prays for a king God has already confirmed in rebellion, and God answers the prayer, yet Pharaoh still says no. This can unsettle our assumptions about prayer, sovereignty, and the human will. The passage invites a group to wrestle with how God’s purposes and intercessory prayer fit together.
Discussion questions
- What does Moses’ action tell us about his character and his role as a mediator?
- Why do you think the writer includes the detail that “there remained not one locust” (v.19)? What does such completeness suggest about God’s power?
- The passage uses the same phrase “Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart” from earlier chapters (cf. Exodus 9:35). How does repetition shape your understanding of God’s involvement in the conflict?
- Calvin says Moses prayed not because Pharaoh was repentant but to “open God’s way for the remaining contests.” In what situations might we pray when we already know the outcome?
- How does this story challenge or encourage the way you pray for people who seem hardened in their opposition to God?
- If God can remove a plague completely and still not get a changed heart, what does that tell us about the nature of human freedom and stubbornness?
- How does knowing that the Red Sea is the same body of water through which Israel later passed (Exodus 13:18) deepen the meaning of this deliverance?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 8:9 | Moses said to Pharaoh, “I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only.” |
| Exodus 8:28 | Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.” |
| Exodus 8:30 | Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh. |
| Matthew 5:44 | But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, |
| Luke 6:28 | bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. |
| Exodus 13:18 | but God led the people around by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. |
| Exodus 15:4 | He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. |
| Joel 2:20 | But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke notes that God worked through ordinary weather to end the plague, sending a powerful west wind from the Mediterranean to drive the locusts into the Red Sea. He then explains the Hebrew name for that sea, Yam Suph, meaning the weedy or reedy sea, and notes the ancient debate about whether it was named for seaweed, coral, or the red land of Edom nearby.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that "west wind" literally means "a sea wind" blowing from the Mediterranean. He points out that the Hebrew phrase for the Red Sea is "Sea of Suph," a term of disputed meaning possibly Egyptian, not "red" at all. The familiar name likely comes from reddish marine life, not the water's color.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues that Moses prayed for the locusts' removal not because he believed Pharaoh was truly repentant, but to display God’s power. He acted under the Spirit's special impulse, and the immediate answer proved his prayers were not wasted.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes that the Hebrew word for “west” literally means “sea-wind,” reflecting Palestine’s geography with the sea to the west. Locust swarms are commonly driven by wind into the sea, as Pliny and Joel attest. Even after this dramatic removal, Pharaoh still refused to let Israel go.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes emphasize that God alone controls both the removal of the plague and the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. The same divine power that swept the locusts away also confirmed Pharaoh in his stubborn refusal, showing that every outcome in this confrontation belongs to God's sovereign purpose.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill emphasizes that the removal of the locusts was as great a miracle as their arrival. He notes the wind changed from east to a strong west wind that carried them into the Red Sea, called in Hebrew "Yam Suph" or sea of weeds. The word "cast" implies they were fixed there like a tent peg
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch highlight that Moses' prayer moved God to drive the locusts into the Red Sea with a forceful west wind, showing His patience even with Pharaoh. The phrase "turned a west wind" is a compact way of saying God changed the wind's direction, and the word "thrust" conveys an irresistible divine power.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange distinguishes Pharaoh’s self-hardening from God’s subsequent judicial hardening. After the seventh plague, Pharaoh’s sentence was settled, and the later plagues completed his obduracy. Moses needed to know this in advance so the apparent failures would not discourage him, revealing Moses’ deep insight into God’s justice.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that Moses did not stretch out his own hand but the rod of God, the appointed sign of God’s presence. The locusts came at a call, like a great army under God’s command, showing that the plague was entirely the Lord’s doing.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that the wind, which seems to blow wherever it pleases from a human perspective, is always under God's direct command. The east wind brought the locusts and the west wind removed them, proving that every gust is turned about by God's counsel and fulfills his word.