Exodus 3:11

Summary

Moses responds to God with a question about his own qualification: he asks "who am I" that he should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. The verse presents a rhetorical objection framed through two parallel purpose clauses.

Key words

• mi ("who?", H4310) — interrogative pronoun opening the rhetorical question; paired with 'anokhi, it questions identity/worthiness rather than mere fact.
• 'anokhi ("I", H0595) — independent personal pronoun; its use alongside a finite verb form (implied "to be") emphasizes the subject, giving weight to "who am I" as opposed to a plain statement.
• ki ("that/if", H3588A) — subordinating particle appearing twice (lines 9 and 14), introducing two parallel clauses that specify what Moses feels unqualified for: going to Pharaoh, and bringing out the people.
• 'elekh ("I will go", H1980G) — qal imperfect, first person; imperfect aspect marks this as a future/contemplated action tied to the ki clause.
• 'otsi ("I will bring out", H3318H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, first person; the causative stem indicates Moses himself would be the causal agent of the Israelites' exit, intensifying the scope of the task he questions.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two parts: the question itself, mi 'anokhi ("who am I"), and two subordinate clauses introduced by ki ("that" or "if") that explain what the question concerns. The first ki-clause uses 'elekh ("I will go"), a qal imperfect describing simple future motion toward Pharaoh. The second ki-clause uses 'otsi ("I will bring out"), a hiphil (causative) imperfect, marking a stronger, causative action: not just going, but actively causing the people of Israel, bene Yisra'el ("the people of Israel", H1121G construct + H3478), to leave Egypt. The repetition of ki creates a parallel structure, listing two tasks (confronting Pharaoh; extracting the people) under a single rhetorical question about identity or capability.

The construct phrase bene Yisra'el ("sons/people of Israel") functions as the object of 'otsi, marked by the untranslated direct object particle 'et (H0853). The preposition mi- attached to Mitzrayim ("from Egypt") indicates the point of departure for this causative action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders par'oh ("Pharaoh", H6547J) as "Φαραὼ βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου" ("Pharaoh, king of Egypt"), adding a title not present in the Hebrew text, which contains only the name par'oh. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely, using "Pharaonem" without the added title.