Exodus 3:16

Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks to Moses, instructing him to deliver a message to the elders of Israel immediately after revealing His name and purpose at Horeb.

The words — לֵ֣ךְ (lekh) = go; אָֽסַפְתָּ֞ ('a.saf.Ta) = you will gather. These verbs frame the commission as an immediate directive to convene the leadership and announce divine intervention.

The thread — The assembly command executes in Exodus 4:29, where the people (הָעָם) respond to the message rather than the elders specifically (Exodus 4:31), while Psalm 8:4 echoes the theme of divine attention to human condition.

Why it lands — It demands recognition that God initiates deliverance by observing affliction and appointing messengers to announce His intervention.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

לֵ֣ךְlekhgo וְאָֽסַפְתָּ֞ve./'a.saf.Taand/ you will gather אֶת־'et-<obj.>זִקְנֵ֣יzik.Nei[the] elders of יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לYis.ra.'ElIsrael וְאָמַרְתָּ֤ve./'a.mar.Taand/ you will say אֲלֵהֶם֙'a.le./Hemto/ them יְהוָ֞הYah.wehYahweh אֱלֹהֵ֤י'e.lo.Hei[the] God of אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶם֙'a.vo.tei./Khemancestors/ your נִרְאָ֣הnir.'Ahhe appeared אֵלַ֔י'e.La/ito/ me אֱלֹהֵ֧י'e.lo.Hei[the] God of אַבְרָהָ֛ם'av.ra.HamAbraham יִצְחָ֥קyitz.ChakIsaac וְיַעֲקֹ֖בve./ya.'a.Koand/ Jacob לֵאמֹ֑רle./Mor<to>/ saying פָּקֹ֤דpa.Kodcertainly <to observe>פָּקַ֙דְתִּי֙pa.Kad.tiI have observed אֶתְכֶ֔ם'et./Khem<obj.>/ you וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>הֶעָשׂ֥וּיhe./'a.Suithe/ [thing] doneלָכֶ֖םla./Khemto <the>/ youבְּמִצְרָֽיִם׃be./mitz.Ra.yimin/ Egypt

King James Version

Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

Cross-references

Psalms 8:4 what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
Exodus 4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
Exodus 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
Genesis 50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Acts 15:14 Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.
Genesis 21:1 Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
Exodus 2:25 God saw the Israelites and took notice.
Exodus 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
Exodus 4:5 “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Exodus 13:19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear a solemn oath when he said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones with you from this place.”

People named

AbrahamJacobIsaac