Exodus 6:12

But Moses replied to ¹  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ²  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ³  I speak with difficulty?” ⁴ 

But Moses said to the LORD, "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?"

But Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, "Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?"

"But LORD!" Moses objected. "My own people won’t listen to me anymore. How can I expect Pharaoh to listen? I’m no orator!"

Moses answered GOD, "Look--the Israelites won't even listen to me. How do you expect Pharaoh to? And besides, I stutter."

And Moses, answering the Lord, said, See, the children of Israel will not give ear to me; how then will Pharaoh give ear to me, whose lips are unclean?

But Moses spoke to the LORD, "The Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?"

And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, "The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?"

But Moses replied to ¹  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ²  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ³  I speak with difficulty?” ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “And Moses spoke before.”

² sn This analogy is an example of a qal wahomer comparison. It is an argument by inference from the light (qal) to the heavy (homer), from the simple to the more difficult. If the Israelites, who are Yahwists, would not listen to him, it is highly unlikely Pharaoh would.

³ tn The final clause begins with a disjunctive vav (ו), a vav on a nonverb form – here a pronoun. It introduces a circumstantial causal clause.

⁴ tn Heb “and [since] I am of uncircumcised lips.” The “lips” represent his speech (metonymy of cause). The term “uncircumcised” makes a comparison between his speech and that which Israel perceived as unacceptable, unprepared, foreign, and of no use to God. The heart is described this way when it is impervious to good impressions (Lev 26:41; Jer 9:26) and the ear when it hears imperfectly (Jer 6:10). Moses has here returned to his earlier claim – he does not speak well enough to be doing this.