Exodus 6 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around 1446 BC, immediately after the first attempt before Pharaoh has made conditions worse
Location
Egypt, with Moses among the demoralized Israelite laborers
Audience
The Israelites of the exodus generation, and later readers tracing their family lines
Situation
With the people crushed by the increased workload and unwilling to listen, God restates his covenant promise to Moses using his personal name and a series of pledges to rescue, redeem, and take Israel as his own. A family record of Reuben, Simeon, and especially Levi follows, placing Moses and Aaron in the line.
Key Background
The chapter turns on the difference between a title and a personal name: the ancestors knew God chiefly as God Almighty, and now the covenant name is being tied to a rescue the nation will witness. Ancient Near Eastern treaty and covenant language typically opened by naming the ruler and recalling what he had already done, which is the pattern behind the string of promises here. The genealogy is not a digression but a legal credential, since in a clan society a leader's authority rested on documented descent, and this one establishes that the two men speaking to Pharaoh belong to the priestly tribe of Levi.
Then said to Moses, "Now you'll see what I'm going to do to Pharaoh. He'll be forced by a to let them go — forced by a to drive them out of his land."
spoke to Moses and told him, "I am Yahweh.
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El — God the Overwhelming — but by my name Yahweh I did not to them.
I also set up my with them, to give them the land of Canaan — the land where they lived as
And now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites — the ones the Egyptians have enslaved — and I have my binding agreement.
"So tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh. I will bring you out from under the crushing labor of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from slavery to them. I will you with an outstretched arm and with of so they will the
I will you as my own and I will be your God. Then you will that I am Yahweh your God — the one who brought you out from under the crushing labor of the Egyptians.
I will bring you into the land I to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as your own I am Yahweh."
Moses told all of this to the Israelites, but they couldn't hear him — their were by the brutal, backbreaking slavery.
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses:
"Go tell king of Egypt, to let the Israelites leave his land."
But Moses protested to Yahweh, "Look — the Israelites won't listen to me. Why would Pharaoh listen? I'm not a
But Yahweh spoke to both Moses and Aaron and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt — to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
These are the of their The sons of Reuben, Israel's firstborn — Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.
The sons of Simeon — Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul (the son of a These are the clans of Simeon.
These are the names of the sons of according to their family records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. lived to be 137 years old.
The sons of Gershon — Libni and Shimei, by their clans.
The sons of Kohath — Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived to be 133 years old.
The sons of Merari — Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi, according to their family records.
Amram married his Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived to be 137 years old.
The sons of Izhar — Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
The sons of Uzziel — Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of She bore him Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
The sons of Korah — Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.
Aaron's son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him These are the heads of the Levite ancestral families, by their clans.
These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, "Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, by their
It was Moses and Aaron who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. These are that same Moses and Aaron.
On the day Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
Yahweh told him, "I am Yahweh. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you."
But Moses said to Yahweh, "Look — I'm not a Why would Pharaoh listen to me?"