Since this begins a new section, Good News Translation adds the words “the LORD” after Then Moses answered, to identify the one to whom he is speaking. But behold should suggest the same reluctance noted in 3.13 with the word “If.” (See the comment there.) This may still be implied in a declarative statement, as in Revised Standard Version (so also New English Bible, Bible en français courant, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), but most translations express this as an “if” clause in the sense of “What if…?” Good News Translation expresses this well with the words “But suppose,” and saves the “What if?” for the second sentence.

They will not believe me may be understood either as declarative (“They won’t believe me”) or hypothetical (“What if they don’t believe me?”). Translators need to decide which is more natural in the receptor language. Believe carries the meaning of being convinced, or accepting as true what Moses says. The they may refer either to “the Israelites” in 3.13 or to “the elders” in 3.18. The former, “the Israelites,” is more likely, since this marks another excuse, as in 3.11 and 3.13. Or listen to my voice (Good News Translation‘s “listen to what I say”) adds emphasis to the first statement, for Moses expected that they would even refuse to accept anything else he would say about the LORD.

For they will say is a new clause that simply expands Moses’ excuse, for he anticipates what the Israelites will actually say to him. This clause may be rendered either as declarative (they will) or as hypothetical (“What … if they say”), or even “Supposing they say.” The addition of “What shall I do” (Good News Translation) is implied with the idea of “What if?” It is also possible to express Moses’ apprehension as “They may say.”

The LORD did not appear to you is an embedded quotation and may be changed to an indirect statement such as “They will say that you did not appear to me.” The LORD is the personal name YHWH, but there is no suggestion that the Israelites would have already known this name. (For comments on LORD and appear, see 3.2a.)

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 .