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How Will Pharaoh Listen?

Adonai said to Moses, “Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. By way of a strong hand he will let them go, and drive them out of his land.”

Parashat Va’eira

God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am Adonai. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as El Shaddai. Yet by My Name, Adonai, did I not make Myself known to them. I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage where they journeyed. Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of Bnei-Yisrael, whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. So I have remembered My covenant. Therefore say to Bnei-Yisrael: I am Adonai, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you to Myself as a people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Adonai your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. So I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and give it to you as an inheritance. I am Adonai.”

Moses spoke this way to Bnei-Yisrael, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and cruel bondage. 10 So Adonai told Moses, 11 “Go, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that will he let Bnei-Yisrael go out of his land.”

12 But Moses said to Adonai, “Bnei-Yisrael have not listened to me. So how would Pharaoh listen to me—I, who have uncircumcised lips?”

13 Then Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave to them a charge for Bnei-Yisrael and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring Bnei-Yisrael out of the land of Egypt.

14 These are the heads of their father’s houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. 15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon.

16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years. 17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, according to their families. 18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. 19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

20 Amram married Jochebed, his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. 21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri. 23 Aaron married Elisheba daughter of Amminadav, sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites according to their families.

26 These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom Adonai said, “Bring Bnei-Yisrael out from the land of Egypt according to their divisions.” 27 These are the ones that spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring Bnei-Yisrael out from Egypt. These are that same Moses and Aaron. 28 So it happened on the day when Adonai spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that Adonai said to Moses, “I am Adonai. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything that I tell to you.” 30 But Moses said to Adonai, “I am of uncircumcised lips, so how would Pharaoh listen to me?”