Then Pharaoh told them, "The LORD will certainly be with you if I let you and your little ones go. I know some evil plan is in your mind.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer, because God had said, "If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt."

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials changed toward the people, and they said, "What have we done in releasing Israel from serving us?"

Why should the Egyptians say, "He brought them out with an evil intention to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your anger and change your mind about the calamity against your people.

So the LORD changed his mind about the calamity he had said he would bring on his people.