God Promises Freedom

Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I did not reveal My name Yahweh to them.(A) I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as foreigners.(B) Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered(C) My covenant.

“Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm(D) and great acts of judgment. I will take you as My people,(E) and I will be your God. You will know(F) that I am Yahweh your God, who delivered you from the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land that I swore[a](G) to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh.” Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen(H) to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 6:8 Lit raised My hand

You must have an unblemished(A) animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.(B) They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.(C) Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling[a] water, but only roasted(D) over fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. 10 Do not let any of it remain until morning;(E) you must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning. 11 Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel,[b] your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.(F)

12 “I will pass through(G) the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.(H) 13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 12:9 Or or boiled at all in
  2. Exodus 12:11 Lit it: with your loins girded

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians coming after them. Then the Israelites were terrified and cried out(A) to the Lord for help. 11 They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”(B)

13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see(C) the Lord’s salvation He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.”(D)

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