Exodus 5:15-6:13

English Standard Version

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? ¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” ¹⁹ The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” ²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; ²¹ and ^(A)they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²² Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

God Promises Deliverance

6 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with ^(B)a strong hand he will ^(C)drive them out of his land.”

² God spoke to Moses and said to him, ^(D)“I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ^(E)God Almighty,^[a] but by my name the ^(F)Lord I did not make myself known to them. ^4 (G)I also established my covenant with them ^(H)to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. ⁵ Moreover, ^(I)I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶ Say therefore to the people of Israel, ^(J)‘I am the Lord, and ^(K)I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and ^(L)I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷ I ^(M)will take you to be my people, and ^(N)I will be your God, and you shall know that ^(O)I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out ^(P)from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you into ^(Q)the land that I ^(R)swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. ^(S)I am the Lord.’” ⁹ Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they ^(T)did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have ^(U)not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for ^(V)I am of uncircumcised lips?” ¹³ But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.