¹⁴ and they made ^(A)their lives bitter with ^[a]hard slave labor in mortar and bricks and in all kinds of slave labor in the field, all their slave labor which they brutally ^[b]compelled them to do.

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ Now it happened in those days, ^(A)that Moses had grown up. And he went out to his brothers and looked on their ^[a](B)hard labors. And ^(C)he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you ^[a]draw the people away from their ^[b]work? Get back to your ^[c](A)hard labors!” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Look, ^(B)the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their hard labors!” ⁶ So on that day Pharaoh commanded ^(C)the taskmasters over the people and their ^(D)foremen, saying, ⁷ “You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall set upon them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are ^(E)lazy, therefore they are crying out, ‘^[d]Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let their slavery be hard on the men, and let them work at it so that they will have no regard for false words.”

⁶ Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘^(A)I am Yahweh, and ^(B)I will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their slavery. I will also ^(C)redeem you with ^(D)an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ Then I will take you ^[a](E)for My people, and ^(F)I will be ^[b]your God; and ^(G)you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you to the land which ^(H)I ^[c]swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and ^(I)I will give it to you for a possession; ^(J)I am Yahweh.’” ⁹ So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on ^(K)account of their weakness of spirit and ^[d]hard slavery.

¹⁰ Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “^(L)Come, ^[e]tell Pharaoh king of Egypt ^[f]to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; ^(M)how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of ^(N)uncircumcised lips?” ¹³ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave them a command for the sons of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Heads of Israel’s Households

¹⁴ These are the heads of their fathers’ households.

²⁵ And Aaron’s son ^(AB)Eleazar took one of the daughters of Putiel as a wife, and she bore him ^(AC)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 Yahweh said, “^(AD)Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^(AE)hosts.” ²⁷ They were the ones ^(AF)who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Will Speak for Moses

²⁸ Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “^(AG)I am Yahweh; ^(AH)speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of ^(AI)uncircumcised lips; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?”