I have seen my people suffer much in Egypt. I have heard my people crying and have come down to save them. Come now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’
“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.
The Israelites saw the great power of the Lord when he defeated the Egyptians. So the people feared and respected the Lord, and they began to trust the Lord and his servant Moses.
On that day I promised to take you out of Egypt and lead you to the land I was giving to you. That was a good land filled with many good things. It was the most beautiful of all countries!
But I will punish the nation that made them slaves.’ And God also said, ‘After those things happen, your people will come out of that country. Then they will worship me here in this place.’