Knox Bible

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But the Lord said to Moses, Thou hast yet to see what I have in store for Pharao, such constraint as will make him let them go; he shall have no choice but to drive them away out of his country.

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And now the Lord sent his word to Moses: I am the same Lord

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who revealed myself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but although I revealed myself as God the Almighty, my name Adonai I did not make known to them.✻

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And the covenant I made with them was that I would give them the land of Chanaan, their dwelling-place then, but not their home.

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And now the complaints of the Israelites under their Egyptian oppressors have reached my ears, and I am reminded of this covenant.

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Tell the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, and I mean to release you from your prison-house in Egypt, to set you free from your slavery, to buy you back for myself, with my arm uplifted in signal acts of redress.

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Then I will make you my own people, and will be your God; you will learn to acclaim the Lord as your God, that Lord who has brought you out of your Egyptian prison-house,

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that Lord who made good his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, led you back to your dwelling-place, and made it your home.

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All this Moses repeated to the Israelites, but they, in their bitterness of heart and the misery of their bondage, would not listen to him.

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And when the Lord sent Moses

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to bid Pharao, king of Egypt, let the sons of Israel go,

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Moses told the Lord to his face, The Israelites will not listen to me; what hope is there that Pharao will listen to me? A man, moreover, so tongue-tied.✻

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When the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, giving them a message to the Israelites and to the Egyptian king, Pharao, and bidding them lead the sons of Israel away out of Egypt,

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these were the heads of families that had left their names to clans. From Ruben, Israel’s first-born, came Henoch, Phallu, Hesron and Charmi.

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From Simeon came Jamuel, Jamin, Ahod, Jachin, Soar, and Saul (the son of a Chanaanite woman).

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From Levi came the three clans of Gerson, Caath, and Merari. (Levi lived to the age of a hundred and thirty-seven.)

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From Gerson, the two families of Lobni and Semei.

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From Caath, Amram, Isaar, Hebron and Oziel. (Caath lived to the age of a hundred and thirty-three.)

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From Merari, Moholi and Musi. Such were the families descended from Levi.

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Amram married a kinswoman of his called Jochabed, who bore him two sons, Aaron and Moses. (Amram lived to the age of a hundred and thirty-seven.)

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From Isaar came Core, Nepheg, and Zechri,

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from Oziel, Misael, Elisaphan and Sethri.

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Aaron’s wife was Elisabeth, daughter to Aminadab and sister to Nahasson, and the sons she bore him were called Nadab, Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

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And Core’s sons were called Aser, Elcana and Abiasaph; those were the divisions of the Corite clan.

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Meanwhile Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Phutiel, and become the father of Phineës. Such were the heads of the Levite families that gave their names to clans.

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It was these two, Aaron and Moses, who had orders from the Lord to lead the Israelites away, in their full muster, out of Egypt;

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and it was these two, Moses and Aaron, who bade Pharao, king of Egypt, let them leave his country, at the time we are speaking of.

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It was to Moses the Lord said, there in Egypt,

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I am the Lord, repeat to Pharao king of Egypt all this message of mine,

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but Moses hung back and asked the Lord to his face, How should Pharao listen to me, tongue-tied as I am?