¹⁶ Moses Is Invested with His Mission.^[a]“Go, gather the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has appeared to me,^[b] the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, saying, “I have seen you and what is done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ I have said, ‘I will make them go out from the humiliation of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’ ” ’

¹⁸ “They will listen to your voice. You and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has appeared to us. Let us make a three days’ journey into the desert to make a sacrifice to the Lord, our God.’