Title of the kings of Egypt · Genesis to Jeremiah
Pharaoh in the Bible
"Pharaoh" is a title rather than a personal name: it renders an Egyptian phrase meaning "great house", the palace standing for the king who lived in it. Scripture uses it for a whole sequence of rulers across roughly a thousand years — the king who takes Sarai, the king who raises Joseph, the king who enslaves Israel, and later kings named outright, such as Shishak and Neco. In Egypt the pharaoh was held to be divine, which is why the contest of the plagues reads as a contest between gods.
What Scripture says, and what it leaves open
Scripture names only a few Egyptian kings (Shishak, So, Tirhakah, Neco, Hophra). Where it simply says "Pharaoh", the individual is not identified, and any match to a king known from Egyptian records is a historical proposal rather than something the Bible states.
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Verses mentioning Pharaoh
275 occurrences across 235 verses in the King James Version.
These verses cover every use of the title, so they span several different kings.
- Ezekiel 31:2
Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
Read in context - Ezekiel 31:18
To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Read in context - Ezekiel 32:2
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. whale: or, dragon
Read in context - Ezekiel 32:31
Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
Read in context - Ezekiel 32:32
For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Read in context - Acts 7:10
And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
Read in context - Acts 7:13
And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Read in context - Acts 7:21
And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
Read in context - Romans 9:17
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Read in context - Hebrews 11:24
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
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