¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”^*

The Divine Name Revealed

¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”^e He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”^* ¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^f the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

This is my name forever,

and this my title for all generations.^*

¹⁶“Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have given heed to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’^* ¹⁸They will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’^* ¹⁹I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go except by a mighty hand.^* ²⁰So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go.^* ²¹I will bring this people into such favor with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed;^* ²²each woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman living in the neighbor’s house for jewelry of silver and of gold and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”^*

Read in Logos

Exodus 3:14: God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‛I AM has sent me to you.’”

Footnotes

eOr I am what I am or I will be what I will be
fThe word “Lord” when spelled with capital letters stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, “to be”

Cross references

*Gen 31:3; Josh 1:5
*Ex 6:3; Jn 8:58; Heb 13:8
*Ps 135:13; Hos 12:5
*Gen 15:14, 16; Josh 24:11
*Ex 4:31; 5:13
*Ex 5:2; 6:1
*Ex 6:6; 9:15; 12:31; Deut 6:22; Neh 9:10
*Ex 11:3; 12:36
*Ex 11:2, 3; 12:35, 36