Exodus 6:5-6

6:5 I ¹  have also heard ²  the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, ³  and I have remembered my covenant. ⁴  6:6 Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out ⁵  from your enslavement to ⁶  the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, ⁷  and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

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¹ tn The addition of the independent pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “I”) emphasizes the fact that it was Yahweh himself who heard the cry.

² tn Heb “And also I have heard.”

³ tn The form is the Hiphil participle מַעֲבִדִים (ma’avidim, “causing to serve”). The participle occurs in a relative clause that modifies “the Israelites.” The clause ends with the accusative “them,” which must be combined with the relative pronoun for a smooth English translation. So “who the Egyptians are enslaving them,” results in the translation “whom the Egyptians are enslaving.”

⁴ tn As in Exod 2:24, this remembering has the significance of God’s beginning to act to fulfill the covenant promises.

⁵ sn The verb וְהוֹצֵאתִי (vÿhotse’ti) is a perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, and so it receives a future translation – part of God’s promises. The word will be used later to begin the Decalogue and other covenant passages – “I am Yahweh who brought you out….”

⁶ tn Heb “from under the burdens of” (so KJV, NASB); NIV “from under the yoke of.”

⁷ tn Heb “from labor of them.” The antecedent of the pronoun is the Egyptians who have imposed slave labor on the Hebrews.