Moses said to God, “When I go to the Israelites, I will say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you.’ What if the people say, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
Then God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. When you go to the people of Israel, tell them, ‘I AM sent me to you.’ ”
God also said to Moses, “This is what you should tell the people: ‘The LORD is the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He sent me to you.’ This will always be my name, by which people from now on will know me.
“Go and gather the elders and tell them this: ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me. He said, I care about you, and I have seen what has happened to you in Egypt. I promised I would take you out of your troubles in Egypt. I will lead you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a fertile land.’
“The elders will listen to you. And then you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, appeared to us. Let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’
“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go. Only a great power will force him to let you go, so I will use my great power against Egypt. I will strike Egypt with all the miracles that will happen in that land. After I do that, he will let you go. I will cause the Egyptians to think well of the Israelites. So when you leave, they will give gifts to your people.