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.

Geographic context

Where Pharaoh belongs on the map

Open Pharaoh on the interactive mapReal terrain, nearby places, journeys and passages

Key passages

Read the first mention — Genesis 46:33Search every form of “Pharaoh”

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.

  1. Genesis 46:33

    And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?

    Read in context
  2. Genesis 47:1

    Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

    Read in context
  3. Genesis 47:2

    And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

    Read in context
  4. Genesis 47:3

    And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.

    Read in context
  5. Genesis 47:4

    They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

    Read in context
  6. Genesis 47:5

    And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:

    Read in context
  7. Genesis 47:7

    And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

    Read in context
  8. Genesis 47:8

    And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? How: Heb. How many are the days of the years of thy life?

    Read in context
  9. Genesis 47:9

    And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

    Read in context
  10. Genesis 47:10

    And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

    Read in context
  11. Genesis 47:11

    And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

    Read in context
  12. Genesis 47:14

    And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

    Read in context
  13. Genesis 47:19

    Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.

    Read in context
  14. Genesis 47:20

    And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.

    Read in context
  15. Genesis 47:22

    Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. priests: or, princes

    Read in context
  16. Genesis 47:23

    Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

    Read in context
  17. Genesis 47:24

    And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

    Read in context
  18. Genesis 47:25

    And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

    Read in context
  19. Genesis 47:26

    And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. priests: or, princes

    Read in context
  20. Genesis 50:4

    And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

    Read in context
  21. Genesis 50:6

    And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

    Read in context
  22. Genesis 50:7

    And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

    Read in context
  23. Exodus 1:11

    Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

    Read in context
  24. Exodus 1:19

    And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

    Read in context
  25. Exodus 1:22

    And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

    Read in context
Page 3 of 10