Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
Parallel translations
- WEB Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
- KJV Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:
- NKJV Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;
- NASB Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.
- NLT “Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God tells Moses to gather Israel's elders and announce that Yahweh has appeared and seen their plight. The deliverance is to be proclaimed to the people.
Overview
God instructs Moses to confirm to the elders that the covenant God has visited His people. The word "visited" signals God's gracious intervention to save. By speaking through appointed leaders, God prepares Israel to receive His promised rescue with faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Ps 8:4what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- Exod 4:31and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
- Exod 4:29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
- Gen 50:24Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
- Acts 15:14Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.
- Exod 4:5“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
- Exod 3:2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
- 1 Pet 5:1As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you:
- Acts 20:17From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
- Exod 13:19Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear a solemn oath when he said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones with you from this place.”
- Acts 11:30This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul.
- Gen 21:1Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
- Matt 26:3At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
- Luke 1:68“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.
- 1 Pet 2:12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
- Heb 2:6–7But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- Luke 19:44They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
- Exod 2:25God saw the Israelites and took notice.
- Ruth 1:6When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab.
- Gen 1:7So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.
- Exod 15:14The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.
- Exod 24:11But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.
- Exod 18:12Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 3:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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