Exodus 3:15

15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

Exodus 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 3:15

And God said moreover unto Moses
As a further explanation of the above name, and of the design and use of it: thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel:
for their further instruction in the said name, and for the confirmation of the mission of Moses, and the success of it: the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you;
he who is Jehovah, and the covenant God of the ancestors of the people of Israel, and of them, so he is called, ( Ecclesiastes 3:6 ) this [is] my name for ever:
meaning either "Ehjeh, I am", in the preceding verse, or, which is the same, Jehovah in this, and so both of them, and including also the name of the God of Abraham which he was always to be known by: and this is my memorial unto all generations;
the name by which he should be made mention of both by himself and others, and by which he would be called to remembrance by his people, and what he had promised unto them, and done for them.

Exodus 3:15 In-Context

13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”
14 God replied to Moses, “ I AM WHO I AM . Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.
16 “Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you.
17 I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.”’

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Yahweh (also in 3:16 ) is a transliteration of the proper name YHWH that is sometimes rendered “Jehovah”; in this translation it is usually rendered “the ” (note the use of small capitals).
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.