Exodus 6
Exodus 6 opens with God standing before Moses in the wilderness. Moses has just returned from his first failed mission - he confronted Pharaoh with God's demand, Pharaoh hardened his heart, and the work of the people got worse. Moses is discouraged. The people are discouraged. And here, in the quiet moment after collapse, God does not offer a new plan. He offers a name.
The text pivots in verse 3. El Shaddai - the God Almighty who walked with Abraham - now reveals Himself as Yahweh, "the Lord" (from the verb "to be"). This is the hinge of the entire exodus story. God does not argue or explain. He simply stands and repeats His promise in seven "I will" statements, each one a separate act of deliverance. I will bring you out. I will rid you of bondage. I will redeem you. I will take you to me for a people. I will be to you a God. I will bring you in. I will give it to you for a heritage. The genealogy that follows traces the bloodline of the one who will carry this promise forward.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Exodus 6:1-3The Covenant Name
1Therefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord: 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 a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
Moses has just seen the work grow harder. The first petition to Pharaoh only tightened the bonds. And here, in that exact moment, God says: I will bring you out. Not someday. I will. God does not wait for the situation to look promising before He speaks His promise. He speaks into the exact place where it looks impossible13.
2And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: 3And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
God did not reveal Himself to Abraham as Yahweh by name, though Abraham knew Him and walked with Him. The name marks a shift: the one who was known as El Shaddai to the patriarchs is now making Himself known to Egypt - and to Israel - as the self-existent One, the one who is, the one who keeps His covenant not by His power alone but by His very being2.
Exodus 6:4-8The Seven Promises
4And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. 5And I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
God does not say "I will eventually attend to your suffering." He says, "I have heard." Already hearing. Already remembering. The groaning of an enslaved people reaches God not as a complaint but as the sound of His covenant being tested. He has been listening all along.
6Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord: 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 a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
The first act: bring you out. To extract. To remove from where you are bound. The text repeats this in three ways - "bring you out," "rid you," "redeem" - each one a shade of deliverance. The God of the covenant does not offer management of slavery. He offers exodus.
7And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
The second and third acts are "rid you" and "redeem you." To rid is to clear away. To redeem is to pay a price - to make something yours again by paying what is owed. Slavery will be broken not just by power but by transaction. A price will be paid.
The fourth act: take you to me for a people. Not as servants, not as subjects, but as a people - a covenant community bound to Him. And the fifth act immediately follows: I will be to you a God. The relationship is named from both directions. You are mine. I am yours. This is adoption.
To be taken as a people and claimed by God as their God - this is the innermost work of the covenant. Not distant rule. Not distant promise. But "I will be to you a God" - intimate, personal, present.
8And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am the Lord.
The sixth and seventh acts are "bring you in" and "give it you for a heritage." The journey has an end - a land, a home, an inheritance. Not temporary provision, not management, but a place that is permanently yours. The covenant that began with a name unfolds into seven complete acts of deliverance.
The sixth act: bring you in. Not just release, but arrival. Not just freedom from, but freedom to. A destination. A place where you belong.
The seventh act: I will give it you for a heritage. Not borrowed. Not rented. Not a gift that can be revoked. Heritage is what you pass to your children and they to theirs. It is permanent. It is yours. This is the endpoint of the entire exodus - not escape, but inheritance.
Exodus 6:9-13The Wall of Despair
9And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
The people do not disbelieve because the promise is complicated. They disbelieve because they are crushed. Anguish and bondage have built a wall between them and hope. God speaks a covenant name. The people hear only their own groaning. The distance between a promise and a person who cannot hear it is sometimes the darkest place in the Bible.
10And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 11Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. 12And Moses spake before the Lord, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am a man of uncircumcised lips?
Moses is now afraid. Not of Pharaoh's power, but of his own inadequacy. He thinks: if they won't listen to me, how can I ask them to face down a king? But God doesn't answer the doubt. He simply gives the next command. The promise stands whether anyone believes it or not.
13And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 6:14-27The Bloodline
14These be the heads of their fathers' houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben. 15And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.
The genealogy interrupts the story to name the twelve tribes and then narrows down through Levi to Aaron and Moses. This is not narrative momentum - it is ballast. It anchors the covenant not in eloquence or strategy or even in the moment, but in blood. The God who makes these promises is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now of Moses and Aaron. The covenant runs through the veins of history.
16And these are the sons of Levi by their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. 17The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, by their families. 18And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years. 19And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi by their generations.
20And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.
Amram and Jochebed are named. They are Moses' parents. Jochebed is Amram's aunt - a marriage allowed under the law that would later be given. These two ordinary people bore the man who would stand before Pharaoh, speak the covenant name, and lead the exodus. God's work is always rooted in families, in bodies, in time.
21And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 22And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korahites. 25And Eleazar Aaron's son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites by their families.
26These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. 27These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are Moses and Aaron.
The genealogy reaches its crescendo: "These are that Aaron and Moses." They are not heroes who came from nowhere. They are sons of Amram, grandsons of Kohath, descendants of Jacob. The covenant was made to Abraham. It was kept through Isaac and Jacob. It was written into the flesh of every Israelite in Egypt. And now it reaches these two men, in this exact moment, with this exact task.
Exodus 6:28-30The Final Word
28And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, 29That the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I am the Lord: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee. 30And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips: and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?
The chapter ends exactly where it began - with Moses afraid and doubtful. He has heard the covenant name. He has witnessed the genealogy that binds him to the promise. He has been commissioned. And still he says, "I am of uncircumcised lips." His doubt is not answered in this chapter. It will be answered only in the doing - only when he stands before Pharaoh, only when the plagues fall, only when the waters open, only when he holds the stone with the covenant written on it. Faith and doubt will walk together all the way to Sinai.
Further study
- The Ten PlaguesBible Odyssey (SBL)Overview of the plagues and their theological significance.
- Egyptian Deities & the PlaguesBritish MuseumCollection relating Egyptian gods challenged by plagues.
- The Hebrew text of Exodus 6 alongside Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and other classical commentators.