Exodus 6

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

²God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. ⁴I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. ⁵Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”

⁹Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

¹⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

¹²But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”

Family Record of Moses and Aaron

¹³Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

¹⁴These were the heads of their families:

The sons of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel:

Hanok and Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.

These were the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

These were the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records:

Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

(Levi lived 137 years.)

¹⁷The sons of Gershon, by clans:

Libni and Shimei.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

(Kohath lived 133 years.)

¹⁹The sons of Merari:

Mahli and Mushi.

These were the clans of Levi according to their records.

²⁰Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses.

(Amram lived 137 years.)

²¹The sons of Izhar:

Korah, Nepheg and Zikri.

²²The sons of Uzziel:

Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah were:

Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph.

These were the Korahite clans.

²⁵Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas.

These were the heads of the Levite families, clan by clan.

²⁶It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.” ²⁷They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron to Speak for Moses

²⁸Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

³⁰But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”