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.
- Exodus 18:4
And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh: Eliezer: that is, My God is an help
Read in context - Exodus 18:8
And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. come: Heb. found them
Read in context - Exodus 18:10
And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
Read in context - Deuteronomy 6:21
Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
Read in context - Deuteronomy 6:22
And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: sore: Heb. evil
Read in context - Deuteronomy 7:8
But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Read in context - Deuteronomy 7:18
Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
Read in context - Deuteronomy 11:3
And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;
Read in context - Deuteronomy 29:2
And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
Read in context - Deuteronomy 34:11
In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
Read in context - 1 Samuel 2:27
And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?
Read in context - 1 Samuel 6:6
Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? wonderfully: or, reproachfully the people: Heb. them
Read in context - 1 Kings 3:1
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
Read in context - 1 Kings 7:8
And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.
Read in context - 1 Kings 9:16
For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife.
Read in context - 1 Kings 9:24
But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.
Read in context - 1 Kings 11:1
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; together: or, beside
Read in context - 1 Kings 11:18
And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land.
Read in context - 1 Kings 11:19
And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.
Read in context - 1 Kings 11:20
And the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh's household among the sons of Pharaoh.
Read in context - 1 Kings 11:21
And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country. Let: Heb. Send me away
Read in context - 1 Kings 11:22
Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise. Nothing: Heb. Not
Read in context - 2 Kings 17:7
For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
Read in context - 2 Kings 18:21
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. trustest: Heb. trustest thee
Read in context - 2 Kings 23:35
And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.
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