Exodus 6:2

6:2 God spoke ¹  to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. ² 

Exodus 6:8

6:8 I will bring you to the land I swore to give ³  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob – and I will give it to you ⁴  as a possession. I am the Lord!’”

Exodus 6:29

6:29 he said to him, ⁵  “I am the Lord. Tell ⁶  Pharaoh king of Egypt all that ⁷  I am telling ⁸  you.”

Ezekiel 20:7-9

20:7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, ⁹  and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” 20:8 But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, ¹⁰  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ¹¹  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 20:9 I acted for the sake of my reputation, ¹²  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ¹³  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “And God spoke.”

² sn The announcement “I am the Lord” (Heb “Yahweh”) draws in the preceding revelation in Exod 3:15. In that place God called Moses to this task and explained the significance of the name “Yahweh” by the enigmatic expression “I am that I am.” “I am” (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh) is not a name; “Yahweh” is. But the explanation of the name with this sentence indicates that Yahweh is the one who is always there, and that guarantees the future, for everything he does is consistent with his nature. He is eternal, never changing; he remains. Now, in Exodus 6, the meaning of the name “Yahweh” will be more fully unfolded.

³ tn Heb “which I raised my hand to give it.” The relative clause specifies which land is their goal. The bold anthropomorphism mentions part of an oath-taking ceremony to refer to the whole event and reminds the reader that God swore that he would give the land to them. The reference to taking an oath would have made the promise of God sure in the mind of the Israelite.

⁴ sn Here is the twofold aspect again clearly depicted: God swore the promise to the patriarchs, but he is about to give what he promised to this generation. This generation will know more about him as a result.

⁵ tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses saying.” This has been simplified in the translation as “he said to him” for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn The verb is דַּבֵּר (dabber), the Piel imperative. It would normally be translated “speak,” but in English that verb does not sound as natural with a direct object as “tell.”

⁷ tn The clause begins with אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר (’et kol-’asher) indicating that this is a noun clause functioning as the direct object of the imperative and providing the content of the commanded speech.

⁸ tn דֹּבֵר (dover) is the Qal active participle; it functions here as the predicate in the noun clause: “that I [am] telling you.” This one could be rendered, “that I am speaking to you.”

⁹ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.

¹⁰ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

¹² tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”

¹³ tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.