Therefore is an important word meaning “for this reason,” or “So,” referring to what has just been said. Say is literally “you [singular] say,” or “tell.” The people of Israel were “the Israelites.” This clause introduces the exact words of God that Moses is to speak. Thus Good News Translation has “So tell the Israelites that I say to them” and introduces a direct quotation. And Translator’s Old Testament has “Therefore you must give the Israelites this message.” Contemporary English Version has a similar model, “Here is my message for Israel.” One may also expand this and say “Here is the message that I want you to tell the Israelites.”

I am the LORD is the same self-introductory formula discussed in verse 2, here the first words of a quote within a quote. Again its function is to identify the speaker. (But note that it is used again to conclude this embedded quote in verse 8.)

And I will bring you out is literally “I will cause you [plural] to come out.” It is the first of three different verbs that are quite similar in meaning (bring … out, deliver, redeem), all to be spoken in the first person (I will) to the Israelites (you). It means “I will deliver you” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “I will release you” (New English Bible). From under the burdens of the Egyptians is very literal. The burdens of the Egyptians means “the burdens which the Egyptians lay on you” (Jerusalem Bible), or “the forced labour of the Egyptians” (New Jerusalem Bible). Another way to express this clause is “I will free you from doing hard labor for the Egyptians.” (See “burdens” and the comment at 1.11a.)

And I will deliver you from their bondage uses different words to say the same thing. I will deliver you means “I will release you” (Jerusalem Bible), and from their bondage means “from their oppression by the Egyptians.” Since this clause has the same meaning as the preceding clause, we may combine them: “I will rescue you and set you free from doing hard labor for the Egyptians.”

And I will redeem you uses a word that often refers to the act of buying back what belongs to someone, as, for example, buying back family members who had been sold as slaves. (But see the comment at 15.13, where the context is similar.) Here, as in 15.13, its basic meaning is almost the same as bring you out and deliver you. Good News Translation suggests the possible theological implication, with “I will save you.”

With an outstretched arm is a figure of speech meaning “with my power,” or even “through my great might” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). It suggests an arm only waiting to strike. Other ways to express with an outstretched arm are “with my mighty power” (Contemporary English Version) or “I will use my mighty power.” However, if there are receptor languages that have figurative expressions similar to the Hebrew and mean the same thing, those expressions should certainly be used here. The next phrase completes the action: and with great acts of judgment. Acts of judgment is one word in the Hebrew (literally “judgments”); it implies “punishment,” and with the adjective great it means “terrible punishment” (Good News Translation). This probably refers to the plagues that the LORD will bring upon the Egyptians, so Good News Translation adds “upon them.” Another way to express this final sentence is “I will punish the Egyptians terribly and will save you [the Israelites].” (See 7.4 and the comment on “wonders” at 3.20.)

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Here is the message that I want you to tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh. I will free you from doing hard labor for the Egyptians. I will use my mighty power and punish the Egyptians terribly. And I will save you.

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 .