God promises to save the Israelites
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will use my great power to make him let my people go. With my strong power I will cause him to make them leave his land.’
2 And God said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I showed them that I am God Almighty. But I did not let them know me by my special name, the Lord. 4 I also made my covenant with them. I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreign people. 5 I have heard the Israelites when they cry in pain. I know that the Egyptians have caused the Israelites to be their slaves. Now I have thought about my covenant. 6 So you must say this to the Israelites: “I am the Lord. I will remove you from the power of the Egyptians. You will not have to do hard work to serve them as their slaves any more. I will use my strength to save you and I will punish the Egyptians. 7 I will cause you to be my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I am your God who saved you from the power of the Egyptians. 8 I will take you to live in another land. That is the land that I promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Yes, I will give it to you and it will belong to you. I am the Lord.” ’
9 Moses told the Lord's message to the Israelites. But they refused to listen to him. They were very weak and tired, because their Egyptian masters were so cruel to them.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 ‘Go and speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Tell him that he must let the Israelites go out of his country.’ 12 But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Look! Even the Israelites have not listened to me. So Pharaoh certainly will not listen to me. You know that I do not speak well.’
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites, and about Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. He commanded Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
