The big picture
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, has made slavery harder after the first appeal for release. Egypt holds Israel, the people God promises to free. Moses, their appointed messenger, has asked God why rescue has failed. God now answers with promises tied to the people's ancestors. Aaron, Moses' brother and fellow spokesman, shares the renewed task. A family record pauses the confrontation to identify the two men before they return to the king.
In this chapter
- The LORD Remembers His Covenant Exodus 6:1-5
God tells Moses that Pharaoh will release the people under force and even drive them out.
- Freedom Will Lead to Belonging Exodus 6:6-8
Moses must tell the Israelites that the LORD will remove their burdens, free them from slavery, and rescue them through great judgments.
- Exhaustion Makes the People Deaf Exodus 6:9-13
Moses brings this promise to the Israelites, but they cannot listen under their anguish and cruel slavery.
- A Family Record Identifies the Brothers Exodus 6:14-25
The family list starts with Reuben and Simeon, two sons of Israel, then follows Levi's branch in more detail.
- Moses Still Questions His Speech Exodus 6:26-30
Exodus returns from the family list to Aaron and Moses.
Central truth
God renews his promise to free Israel and claim them as his people, despite their exhaustion and Moses' doubts.
Scripture beside the summary
Exodus · King James Version · 30Exodus 6:1-5
The LORD Remembers His Covenant
God tells Moses that Pharaoh will release the people under force and even drive them out. He identifies himself as the LORD and recalls his dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel's ancestors. He promised them Canaan, the land where they had lived as outsiders. That binding promise is called a covenant. God has heard their descendants groaning under Egyptian slavery and remembers his commitment. The failure of the first request has not erased it. God will make himself known through what he now does for them.
In everyday life
An elderly solicitor pulls a signed agreement from a locked cabinet while a family describes years of unpaid support. She reads the promise back to them and begins the steps to enforce it. Their distress has not made the document disappear. They have someone ready to act. God's covenant rests on his own authority, without an outside court.
Notice
Exodus 6:5 Hearing the people's groaning and remembering the covenant appear together. God's response concerns both their present suffering and his earlier commitment.
Exodus 6:1-5
King James Version1Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
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.
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 also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
Exodus 6:6-8
Freedom Will Lead to Belonging
Moses must tell the Israelites that the LORD will remove their burdens, free them from slavery, and rescue them through great judgments. Rescue gives them a new bond. They will belong to him as a people, and he will be their God. They will know who he is through being brought out. God also promises to bring them into the land sworn to their ancestors and give it to them as a lasting possession. Leaving Egypt is the beginning of the promise, not its whole content. Freedom leads toward a home and belonging.
In everyday life
An aunt collects her nephew from temporary care with his approved placement papers. She shows him his bedroom key and tells him his place at her table is ready. Leaving the old address is only the first part of the change. He is entering a household. Israel's new belonging is to God as an entire people.
Notice
Exodus 6:7 God links knowing him with release from the Egyptians' burdens. The promised knowledge comes through an act of rescue, not a definition alone.
Exodus 6:6-8
King James Version6Wherefore 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:
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.
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 an heritage: I am the LORD.
Exodus 6:9-13
Exhaustion Makes the People Deaf
Moses brings this promise to the Israelites, but they cannot listen under their anguish and cruel slavery. Their response is explained by suffering. God then sends Moses back to Pharaoh to demand release from Egypt. Moses objects that if his own people will not hear him, the king certainly will not. He also describes his speech as unfit. God nevertheless gives both Moses and Aaron their charge concerning Israel and Pharaoh. The people's inability to take hope and the messenger's lack of confidence do not cancel the assignment.
In everyday life
A social worker explains an emergency grant to a carer who has spent another night beside a sick parent. The carer stares at the forms without taking in a word. The worker's supervisor tells her to keep arranging the help. Exhaustion has blocked attention, not removed the need. God's promise carries more certainty than a funded support scheme.
Notice
Exodus 6:9 Exodus names anguish and cruel slavery as reasons the people do not listen. Their response is tied to what oppression has done to them.
Exodus 6:9-13
King James Version9And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
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 of uncircumcised lips?
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 6:14-25
A Family Record Identifies the Brothers
The family list starts with Reuben and Simeon, two sons of Israel, then follows Levi's branch in more detail. From Levi it moves through Kohath to Amram. Amram and Jochebed are the parents of Aaron and Moses. Aaron's wife is Elisheba, and their sons include Eleazar. Eleazar's son is Phinehas. Other relatives and family branches appear along the way. This record places the two spokesmen inside the people they represent. They have parents, siblings, children, and kin; they have not arrived as strangers with no link to Israel.
In everyday life
A wedding guest leans over a wedding seating chart while an aunt traces the lines between parents, children, and grandchildren. A long row of names becomes clearer once she reaches the two relatives everyone came to celebrate. The side branches explain where they belong. This chart arranges a gathering; Exodus identifies the family of God's appointed spokesmen.
Notice
Exodus 6:20 Both Aaron and Moses are named as children of the same parents. The family list confirms the brotherly link behind their shared public task.
Exodus 6:14-25
King James Version14These 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.
16And these 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 an hundred thirty and seven years.
17The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to 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 according to 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.
21And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.
22And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.
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 Korhites.
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 according to their families.
Exodus 6:26-30
Moses Still Questions His Speech
Exodus returns from the family list to Aaron and Moses. These are the men God commanded to bring Israel out of Egypt, and the men who spoke to Pharaoh. The command is repeated: Moses must tell the king everything God says. Moses again objects that his lips are unfit and asks why Pharaoh would hear him. Naming his family has not turned him into a confident speaker. The account leaves his weakness in view as the confrontation resumes. The authority of his message must come from the God who sends it.
In everyday life
An interpreter checks her appointment letter before entering a formal hearing. The document names her clearly, yet she tells the coordinator that she fears stumbling over the difficult statement. Being chosen has not removed her fear of speaking. She still has to deliver the words entrusted to her. Moses must deliver God's own words, which no interpreter's appointment letter can supply.
Notice
Exodus 6:29 The command requires Moses to speak all that God says. His task is to deliver a message, not to invent a persuasive case of his own.
Exodus 6:26-30
King James Version26These 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 that Moses and Aaron.
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?
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Exodus 6:1 begins with “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he…”
Where the chapter turns
Exodus 6:12 forms a natural hinge: “And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised…”
The final note
Exodus 6:30 leaves the reader with “And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, Moses, Israel, children, sons, Egypt help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- bondage
- Slavery, with work and life controlled by another power.
- heritage
- A lasting possession received and passed on within a family or people.
- uncircumcised lips
- Moses' way of describing his speech as unfit for the task.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
