¹⁶ “Go, assemble the elders^(A) of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob^(B)—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen^(C) what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt^(D) into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’^(E)

¹⁸ “The elders of Israel will listen^(F) to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews,^(G) has met^(H) with us. Let us take a three-day journey^(I) into the wilderness to offer sacrifices^(J) to the Lord our God.’