And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.
And Pharaoh said, 'I will let you go so that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; just don't go very far away. Please pray for me.'
Pharaoh is making a partial compromise, agreeing to let the Israelites worship God but only nearby, and he's asking Moses to pray for him.
📚 Historical Context
In the book of Exodus, God is delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through a series of plagues, with this verse occurring during the plague of flies. Pharaoh, under pressure from the devastation, agrees to let the Israelites go into the wilderness to worship and sacrifice to the Lord, but he imposes the condition that they not travel too far and asks Moses to intercede for him by praying for relief. This reflects Pharaoh's recurring pattern of making temporary promises to ease immediate suffering, which he often breaks once the crisis subsides.
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