“The elders will listen to you. And then you and the elders will go to the Pharaoh. You will tell him, ‘YAHWEH is the God of the Hebrews. He came to us and told us to travel three days into the desert. There we must offer sacrifices to YAHWEH our God.’
and they believed what they had heard. Then the Israelites understood that the Lord had seen their troubles and had come to help them. So they bowed down and worshiped God.
The man answered, “Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge? Tell me, will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” Then Moses was afraid. He thought to himself, “Now everyone knows what I did.”
And God said, “Tell the Israelites that you were sent by YAHWEH, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. This will always be my name. It is how I want the people to remember me from now on.
“Now go and call together the elders of the people. Tell them that YAHWEH, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—appeared to you. Give them this message from me: ‘I have been watching over you and have seen what people in Egypt have done to you.
Then Moses said to the Lord, “But, Lord, I am telling you, I am not a good speaker. I have never been able to speak well. And that hasn’t changed since you started talking to me. I am still not a good speaker. You know that I speak slowly and don’t use the best words.”
The man of God gave proof to the people that this would happen. He said, “This is the proof that the Lord told me about. He said, ‘This altar will break apart, and the ashes on it will fall onto the ground.’”