Exodus
Exodus 6
1Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.”
2God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am Yahweh. 3I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them. 4I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens. 5Moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. 6Therefore tell the children of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. 7I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am Yahweh.’ ”
9Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they didn’t listen to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
10Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11“Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
12Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the children of Israel haven’t listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, when I have uncircumcised lips?” 13Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a command to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
14These are the heads of their fathers’ houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. 15The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. 16These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years. 17The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. 18The sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred thirty-three years. 19The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. 20Amram took Jochebed his father’s sister to himself as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. The years of the life of Amram were one hundred thirty-seven years. 21The sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 22The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24The sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. 25Eleazar Aaron’s son took one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families. 26These are that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” 27These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron.
28On the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29Yahweh said to Moses, “I am Yahweh. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I tell you.”
30Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?”
Commentary
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 63 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Here, I. God silences Moses's complaints with the assurance of success in this negotiation, repeating the promise made him in Exo 3:20, After that, he will let you go. When Moses was at his wit's end, wishing he had staid in Midian, rather than have come to…
Here, I. God sends Moses the second time to Pharaoh (Exo 6:11) upon the same errand as before, to command him, at his peril, that he let the children of Israel go. Note, God repeats his precepts before he begins his punishments. Those that have often been…
I. We have here a genealogy, not an endless one, such as the apostle condemns (Ti1 1:4), for it ends in those two great patriots Moses and Aaron, and comes in here to show that they were Israelites, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh whom they were…
John Gill30
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Then the Lord said unto Moses,.... In answer to the questions put to him, and the expostulations made with him: now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: in inflicting punishments on him: for with a strong hand shall he let them go; being forced to it by…
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord. Or Jehovah, the self-existent Being, the Being of beings, the everlasting I am, the unchangeable Jehovah, true, firm, and constant to his promises, ever to be believed, and always to be depended on.
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty,.... Able to fulfil all his purposes, promises, and covenant, with whom nothing is impossible; or Elshaddai, God all-sufficient, who has a sufficiency of happiness in…
Adam Clarke18
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
With a strong hand - יד חזקה yad chazakah, the same verb which we translate to harden; see Clarke on Exo 4:21 (note). The strong hand here means sovereign power, suddenly and forcibly applied. God purposed to manifest his sovereign power in the sight of…
I am the Lord - It should be, I am Jehovah, and without this the reason of what is said in the 3d verse is not sufficiently obvious.
By the name of God Almighty - אל שדי EL-Shaddal, God All-sufficient; God the dispenser or pourer-out of gifts. See Clarke on Gen 17:1 (note). But by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them - This passage has been a sort of crux criticorum, and has been…
Keil & Delitzsch5
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The adoption of Israel as the nation of God took place at Sinai (Exo 19:5). וגו נשׁאתי אשׁר, "with regard to which I have lifted up My hand to give it" (Exo 6:8). Lifting up the hand (sc., towards heaven) is the attitude of swearing (Deu 32:40 cf. Gen 14:22)…
When Moses communicated this solemn assurance of God to the people, they did not listen to him רוּה מּקּצר, lit., "for shortness of breath;" not "from impatience" (like קצר־רוּח, Pro 14:29, in contrast to אפּים ארך), but from anguish, inward pressure, which…
Exo 6:13 forms a concluding summary, and prepares the way for the genealogy that follows, the heading of which is given in Exo 6:14. (Note: The organic connection of this genealogy with the entire narrative has been so conclusively demonstrated by Ranke, in…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown7
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
And God spake unto Moses--For his further encouragement, there was made to him an emphatic repetition of the promise (Exo 3:20).
I . . . God Almighty--All enemies must fall, all difficulties must vanish before My omnipotent power, and the patriarchs had abundant proofs of this. but by my name, &c.--rather, interrogatively, by My name Jehovah was I not known to them? Am not I, the…
Moses spake so unto the children of Israel--The increased severities inflicted on the Israelites seem to have so entirely crushed their spirits, as well as irritated them, that they refused to listen to any more communications (Exo 14:12). Even the faith of…
World English Bible — Public domain