Exodus 6:1-6

God Promises Deliverance

1 But the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with ¹a strong hand he will ²drive them out of his land."

2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, ³"I am the LORD.

3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ⁴God Almighty,^[a] but by my name the ⁵LORD I did not make myself known to them.

4 ⁶I also established my covenant with them ⁷to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.

5 Moreover, ⁸I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ⁹'I am the LORD, and ¹⁰I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and ¹¹I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

Exodus 6:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 6

The Lord encourages Moses to hope for success from his name Jehovah, and the covenant he had made with the fathers of his people, Ex 6:1-5, orders him to assure the children of Israel that he would deliver them from their bondage and burdens, and bring them into the land of Canaan; but through their distress and anguish they hearkened not to him, Ex 6:6-9 but Moses is sent again to Pharaoh to demand the dismission of Israel, to which he seems unwilling, and both he and Aaron are charged both to go to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh, Ex 6:10-13, next follows a genealogy of the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, which seems to be given for the sake of Moses and Aaron, and to show their descent, Ex 6:14-15, who were the persons appointed of God to be the instruments of bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, Ex 6:26-30.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 3:19; Exodus 13:3
• 2. Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:33, 39
• 3. [Isaiah 42:8; Malachi 3:6]
• 4. Genesis 17:1
• 5. Psalms 68:4; Psalms 83:18; [John 8:58; Revelation 1:4, 8]
• 6. Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:4, 7
• 7. Genesis 17:8; Genesis 28:4
• 8. Exodus 2:24
• 9. [Isaiah 42:8; Malachi 3:6]
• 10. Exodus 7:4; Deuteronomy 26:8; Psalms 136:11, 12; [Exodus 3:17]
• 11. Exodus 15:13; Deuteronomy 7:8; 2 Kings 17:36; 1 Chronicles 17:21; Nehemiah 1:10

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew El Shaddai