Exodus 3:11-18

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[a] will worship God on this mountain.”

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.^[b] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD,^[c] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’

Exodus 3:11-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 2

In this chapter we are informed how that the Lord appeared to Moses in a bush on fire, but not consumed, Ex 3:1-6, declared unto him that he had seen and observed the afflictions of the children of Israel, and was determined to deliver them, Ex 3:7-9, that he gave him a call to be the deliverer of them, answered his objections to it, and instructed him what he should say, both to the elders of Israel and to Pharaoh, Ex 3:10-18, and assured him, that though at first Pharaoh would refuse to let them go, yet after many miracles wrought, he would be willing to dismiss them, when they should depart with great substance, Ex 3:19-22.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 4:10; Exodus 6:12,30; Judges 6:15; 1 Samuel 9:21; 1 Samuel 15:17; 1 Samuel 18:18; 2 Samuel 7:18; 2 Chronicles 2:6; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 1:6
• 2. S Genesis 26:3; S Exodus 14:22; Genesis 31:3; Joshua 1:5; Romans 8:31
• 3. Numbers 26:10; Joshua 2:12; Judges 6:17; Psalms 86:17; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 20:3; Jeremiah 44:29
• 4. S ver 1; Acts 7:7
• 5. S Genesis 32:29
• 6. Exodus 6:2-3; John 8:58; Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8
• 7. Genesis 31:42; Daniel 2:23
• 8. S Genesis 24:12
• 9. Exodus 6:3,7; Exodus 15:3; Exodus 23:21; Exodus 34:5-7; Leviticus 24:11; Deuteronomy 28:58; Psalms 30:4; Psalms 83:18; Psalms 96:2; Psalms 97:12; Psalms 135:13; Psalms 145:21; Isaiah 42:8; Jeremiah 16:21; Jeremiah 33:2; Hosea 12:5
• 10. Psalms 45:17; Psalms 72:17; Psalms 102:12
• 11. Exodus 4:29; Exodus 17:5; Leviticus 4:15; Numbers 11:16; Numbers 16:25; Deuteronomy 5:23; Deuteronomy 19:12; Judges 8:14; Ruth 4:2; Proverbs 31:23; Ezekiel 8:11
• 12. S Genesis 24:12
• 13. Exodus 4:31; 2 Kings 19:16; 2 Chronicles 6:20; Psalms 33:18; Psalms 66:7
• 14. S Genesis 15:16; Genesis 46:4; Exodus 6:6; Joshua 24:11
• 15. S ver 8
• 16. Ex 4:1,8,31; Exodus 6:12,30
• 17. S Genesis 14:13
• 18. Numbers 23:4,16
• 19. S Genesis 30:36
• 20. Exodus 4:23; Exodus 5:1,3; Exodus 6:11; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:20,27; Exodus 9:13; Exodus 10:9,26

Footnotes

• [a] The Hebrew is plural.
• [b] Or I will be what I will be
• [c] The Hebrew for Lordsounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for I amin verse 14.