Exodus 6
God promises to save the Israelites
1God said to Moses: ‘Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. I will use my great power against him and he will let my people go. He will tell them that they must go out of his land.’
2God also said to Moses: ‘I am the Lord. 3I have appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I have told them that I am God Almighty but I have not told them that my name is the Lord. 4I made a covenant with them and I promised to give them the land of Canaan where they were strangers. 5I have heard the Israelites crying because they have to work as slaves for the Egyptians and I have remembered my covenant with them. 6That is why you must tell the Israelites that I say: “I am the Lord and with my power I will punish the Egyptians and free you from them. You will no longer be slaves. 7I will take you and you will be my people and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has saved you and made you free from being slaves in Egypt. 8I will bring you into the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it will be your land. I am the Lord.” ’
9Moses told the Israelites everything that the Lord had told him, but they did not listen to Moses. They were discouraged because they had to work so hard.
10The Lord talked to Moses again and said to him: 11‘Go and talk to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Tell him to let the Israelites go out of his land.’ 12But Moses said to the Lord: ‘The Israelites do not listen to me, and Pharaoh will also not listen to me. It is difficult for me to talk.’ 13But the Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and He sent them to the Israelites and to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord told Moses and Aaron to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.
The names of the leaders of the families
14Here are the names of the leaders of the families:
Jacob's oldest son was Reuben. Reuben's sons were Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. This was the family of Reuben.
15Simeon's sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul. Shaul was the son of a Canaanite woman. This was the family of Simeon.
16The names of Levi's sons were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived for 137 years. 17Gershon's sons were Libni and Shimei. 18Kohath's sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived for 133 years. 19Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi. These were Levi's descendants.
20Amram married Jochebed, his aunt, and they had 2 sons. They were Aaron and Moses. Amram lived for 137 years. 21The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zikri. 22The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.
23Aaron married Elisheba. She was the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon. Aaron and Elisheba had 4 sons. They were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
24Korah's sons were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These were Korah's descendants.
25Aaron's son Eleazar married a daughter of Putiel and they had a son. His name was Phinehas. These were the leaders of the Levite families.
26They were Aaron and Moses' family. The Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and He told them to bring all the tribes_of_Israel out of Egypt. 27They talked to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and asked him to let the Israelites go out of Egypt.
Aaron must help Moses
28When the Lord talked to Moses in Egypt, 29He said to Moses: ‘I am the Lord. You must tell Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, everything that I have said to you.’
30But Moses said to the Lord: ‘It is difficult for me to talk. Pharaoh will not listen to me.’
English Bible for the Deaf © Bible Society of South Africa 2019. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
