It was they follows the Hebrew closely, emphasizing again, as in verse 26, that Moses and Aaron were the same people listed in verse 20. “They were the men” who spoke to Pharaoh. Again, Pharaoh was the title, not the name, for the king of Egypt. (See the comment at 1.11b.) Bringing out the people of Israel is easily misunderstood apart from verse 26. This is not a request for the king to bring them out, but rather a demand that he permit Moses and Aaron to bring them out. One may translate “They were the men who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and demanded that he let them bring the Israelites out of Egypt.” Or one may follow Good News Translation and others (New English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and say “They were the men who told the king of Egypt to free the Israelites.”

This Moses and this Aaron is added for emphasis. But it also has a stylistic function not seen in Good News Translation. It contrasts in several ways with the similar phrase, “These are the Aaron and Moses,” in verse 26. In verse 26 the phrase concludes the genealogy and opens this editorial comment, while in verse 27 it closes the editorial comment and opens the narrative once again. The phrase “Aaron and Moses” in verse 26 connects it with the genealogy where Aaron is the central figure, while the phrase “Moses and Aaron” in verse 27 returns to the narrative, where Moses is the leading character. This contrast in sequence should be retained in translation.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .