Exodus 3:18 tells Moses that the elders of Israel will accept his message, and that together they should go to the king of Egypt and ask permission for the people to leave Egypt for three days in the wilderness to offer sacrifice to the LORD. The request is modest on its face, but it is the first formal step toward Israel’s release from slavery. God speaks these words to Moses at the burning bush, and Moses is the one who is to carry them to the elders first and then to Pharaoh.
They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD, our God.’
Exodus 3:18 (WEB)
What Exodus 3:18 Means
The verse opens with a promise: “They will listen to your voice.” God is telling Moses ahead of time that his own people will receive him, even though Moses has just objected that they would not believe him. The command that follows, “you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt,” makes clear that this is not a private errand. Moses is to act as the representative of a whole people, with the elders standing beside him as recognized leaders.
The heart of the message is the claim, “The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us,” and the request, “let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD, our God.” The phrase “three days’ journey” is a specific and limited request, not a demand to leave Egypt for good. It does not promise that Pharaoh will agree, and the surrounding verses show that he will resist. What the verse does promise is that God has spoken, that the people will hear, and that the first step is to say plainly what God has asked.
The Context of Exodus 3:18
Exodus is the second book of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally attributed to Moses. It tells how the descendants of Jacob grew into a nation in Egypt, were enslaved, and were delivered by the LORD through Moses. The original audience was the people of Israel, who needed to understand that their deliverance came from God and not from Egypt’s gods or from their own strength.
Verses 15 through 17 come just before this one and establish who is speaking and why. God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and says he has seen the suffering of his people and intends to bring them up to the promised land. Verses 19 through 21 follow and warn that Pharaoh will refuse, and that God will strike Egypt with his wonders before the people are released. Read in that setting, verse 18 is not a naive prediction that the request will succeed. It is the first move in a plan that God has already set in motion, and the reader is meant to see the difference between the people’s hope and the king’s hardness.
Key Phrases in Exodus 3:18
Exodus 3:19-20
19 I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
(WEB)
These verses follow directly and show that Pharaoh will refuse, and that God himself will act with his wonders. Reading them alongside verse 18 keeps the request in its proper place: the people ask, but God is the one who ultimately sets them free.
Exodus 4:22-23
22 You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘The LORD says, Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I have said to you, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”; and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.’”
(WEB)
Here God calls Israel his firstborn son and demands that Pharaoh let his son go to serve him. This passage deepens the meaning of the three-day request by showing that worship is the heart of the whole exodus, the reason the people belong to the LORD.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 3:18
Lord, you know how hard it is to speak up when the stakes feel high and the people we need to reach seem unlikely to listen. Thank you that you go ahead of us and prepare hearts before we open our mouths. Give me the courage to say plainly what you have asked of me, and the humility to ask only for what I can trust you to provide. Help me to remember that my worship and my freedom belong to you, and that you are faithful to bring your people out in your time. Amen.
