Exodus 5:22-6:13

GOD’S WORD Translation

²² Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Why have you brought this trouble on your people? Why did you send me? ²³ Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak for you, he has treated your people cruelly, and you have done nothing at all to rescue your people.”

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will show him my power, and he will let my people go. I will show him my power, and he will throw them out of his country.”

The Lord Tells Moses to Speak to Pharaoh Again

² God spoke to Moses, “I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I didn’t make myself known to them by my name, the Lord. ⁴ I even made a promise ^[a] to give them Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. ⁵ Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians hold in slavery, and I have remembered my promise.

⁶ “Tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the oppression of the Egyptians, and I will free you from slavery. I will rescue you with my powerful arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷ Then I will make you my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you to the land I solemnly swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the Lord.’ ”

⁹ Moses reported this to the Israelites. But they would not listen to him because they were so discouraged by their back-breaking work.

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, ¹¹ “Go tell Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) to let the Israelites leave his country.”

¹² But Moses protested to the Lord, “The Israelites wouldn’t listen to me. Why would Pharaoh listen to me? I’m such a poor speaker.”

¹³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.