Chapter 6
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh. With a mighty hand he will let them go. With a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”
Another Account of Moses’ Call.[a] 2 God spoke to Moses and told him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God the all-powerful, but I did not reveal my name, the Lord, to them. 4 I established a covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, that land where they dwelt as aliens.
5 “And now I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel in their bondage to the Egyptians and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Therefore, say to the children of Israel, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from your forced labor to the Egyptians. I will free you from their slavery and liberate you with an outstretched arm[b] and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord, your God, who will bring you out from your forced labor to the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore with an oath I would give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as an inheritance, for I am the Lord.’ ”
9 Moses said these things to the children of Israel, but they did not listen to him, for they were at the limits of their endurance because of their harsh slavery.[c]
10 The Lord said to Moses: 11 “Go to speak with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, so that he will let the children of Israel leave his land.” 12 But Moses said these things in God’s presence, “Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me; how could Pharaoh listen to me, for I am a man of unskilled speech?”
13 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them orders for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the children of Israel leave the land of Egypt.
14 Genealogy of Moses and Aaron. These are the heads of their families. The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. 15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of the Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon.
16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived to be one hundred and thirty-seven years old.
17 The sons of Gershon, by their clans, were Libni and Shimei.
18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived to be one hundred and thirty-three years old.
19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.
20 Amram took Jochebed as his wife. She was his father’s sister. She bore Aaron and Moses and Miriam. Amram lived to be one hundred and thirty-seven years old.
21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
23 Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, as his wife. She bore Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.
25 Eleazar, the son of Aaron, took a daughter of Putiel, as a wife. She bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral clans of Levi.
26 These are the Aaron and the Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the children of Israel out from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.”
27 They told Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to let the children of Israel leave Egypt. They are Moses and Aaron.
28 Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. This is what happened when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt. 29 The Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord! Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, what I say to you.” 30 Moses spoke in the presence of the Lord, “Behold, I am a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”
Footnotes
- Exodus 6:2 The passage is from a Priestly tradition and dwells on the point that Moses and Aaron belong to the priestly family. After the doubt expressed in Ex 5:22, the redactor of the Book of Exodus seeks to reaffirm that Moses remains the chosen one of God to save his people.
- Exodus 6:6 Outstretched arm: this expression, like “mighty hand” in verse 1, suggests the power with which God intervenes.
- Exodus 6:9 Moses’ words of encouragement fell on deaf ears. As the conditions of the children of Israel worsened, their spirits were crushed.