Exodus 5:22-6:8

Good News Translation

Moses Complains to the Lord

²²Then Moses turned to the Lord again and said, “Lord, why do you mistreat your people? Why did you send me here? ²³Ever since I went to the king to speak for you, he has treated them cruelly. And you have done nothing to help them!”

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you are going to see what I will do to the king. I will force him to let my people go. In fact, I will force him to drive them out of his land.”

God Calls Moses

²^(A)God spoke to Moses and said, “I am the Lord. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Almighty God, but I did not make myself known to them by my holy name, the Lord.^[a] ⁴I also made my covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they had lived as foreigners. ⁵Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶So tell the Israelites that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord; I will rescue you and set you free from your slavery to the Egyptians. I will raise my mighty arm to bring terrible punishment upon them, and I will save you. ⁷I will make you my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God when I set you free from slavery in Egypt. ⁸I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the Lord.’”