Exodus 6

Then God said to Moses/me, “Now you will see what I will do to the king and his people. I will powerfully [MTY] compel him to let my people go. In fact, by my power [MTY] I will force him to expel them from his land!”

God also said to Moses/me, “I am God.

I am the one who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and told them that I was God Almighty, but I did not tell them that my name was God.

I also made my solemn agreement with them, promising to give them the Canaan region. That was the area in which they were living as foreigners.

Furthermore, I have heard the Israeli people as they were groaning because of the hard work that the Egyptians forced them to do as their slaves. I have thought about that solemn promise that I made.

So tell the Israeli people that I said this: ‘I am God. I will free you from the burdens of heavy work that the Egyptians have given you. I will free you from being their slaves. With my great power [MTY] and by punishing them [MTY] very severely, I will save you.

I will cause you to be my own people, and I will be your God, the one you worship. You will truly know that I, God your God, am the one who has freed you from the burdens of work as slaves of the Egyptians.

And I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. You will possess it forever. I, God, am promising this.’”

Moses/I told that to the Israeli people, but they did not believe what he/I said. They were very discouraged [IDM] because of the hard work that they had been forced to do as slaves.

God said to Moses/me,

“Go and tell the king of Egypt again that he must allow the Israeli people to leave his land!”

But Moses/I said to God, “Listen to what I am saying. Even the Israeli people have not paid attention to what I told them. But I am a poor speaker. [MET, MTY] So ◄why should the king pay attention to what I tell him?/the king will certainly not pay attention to what I tell him!►” [RHQ]

But God spoke to Aaron and Moses/me and commanded them/us, “Tell the Israeli people and the king of Egypt that I have commissioned you two to lead the Israeli people out of Egypt.”

◄Here is/I will now give you► a list of the ancestors of Moses/me and Aaron: The sons of Reuben, who was Jacob’s oldest son, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. They were ancestors of the clans that have those same names.

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul. Shaul’s mother was a woman from the Canaan people-group. Those men also were ancestors of clans that have those same names.

These are the names of the sons of Levi, in the order in which they were born: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi was 137 years old when he died.

The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei. They were ancestors of clans that have those names.

The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath was 133 years old when he died.

The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. All of those people whose names I have listed belonged to tribes/clans descended from Levi, in the order in which they were born.

Amram married his father’s sister, Jochebed. She was the mother of Aaron and Moses/me. Amram was 137 years old when he died.

The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

Aaron married Elisheba. She was the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon. Elisheba gave birth to four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. They were the ancestors of the Korah people-group.

Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she gave birth to Phinehas. That ends the list of the families and clans that were descended from Levi.

Aaron and Moses/I were the ones to whom God said, “Lead all the families and clans of the Israeli people out of Egypt.”

They/We were the ones who spoke to the king of Egypt about bringing the Israeli people out of Egypt.

On the day that God spoke to Moses/me in Egypt,

he said, “I am God. You must tell the king everything that I say to you.”

But Moses/I said to God, “Listen to me. I am not a good speaker. [MET, MTY] So ◄the king will certainly not pay attention to what I say/why should the king pay attention to what I tell him?►!” [RHQ]