God Promises Action

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for ^[a]under compulsion he will let them go, and ^[b]under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

² God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord; ³ and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as ^[c]God Almighty, but by My name, ^[d]Lord, I did not make Myself known to them. ⁴ I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the ^[e]land in which they sojourned. ⁵ Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶ Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ Then I will take you ^[f]for My people, and I will be ^[g]your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you to the land which I ^[h]swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the Lord.’” ⁹ So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their ^[i]despondency and cruel bondage.

¹⁰ Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “Go, ^[j]tell Pharaoh king of Egypt ^[k]to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am ^[l]unskilled in speech?” ¹³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Heads of Israel

¹⁴ These are the heads of their fathers’ households. The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. ¹⁵ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶ These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the ^[m]length of Levi’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. ¹⁷ The sons of Gershon: ^[n]Libni and Shimei, according to their families. ¹⁸ The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the ^[o]length of Kohath’s life was one hundred and thirty-three years. ¹⁹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. ²⁰ Amram ^[p]married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the ^[q]length of Amram’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. ²¹ The sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. ²² The sons of Uzziel: Mishael and ^[r]Elzaphan and Sithri. ²³ Aaron ^[s]married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²⁴ The sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and ^[t]Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵ Aaron’s son Eleazar ^[u]married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites according to their families. ²⁶ It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.” ²⁷ They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt ^[v]about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.

²⁸ Now it came about on the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, I am ^[w]unskilled in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?”