Exodus 6:20 is a family record. It tells us that Amram married his aunt Jochebed, and that their union produced Aaron and Moses, the two brothers who would lead Israel out of Egypt. The verse also gives Amram’s lifespan, 137 years, which fits the genealogy’s habit of recording the length of each patriarch’s life. The words come from the narrator of the book of Exodus, written to the people of Israel as they remembered how God had shaped their nation from a single household.
Amram took Jochebed his father’s sister to himself as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty-seven years.
Exodus 6:20 (WEB)
What Exodus 6:20 Means
The verse begins with “Amram took Jochebed his father’s sister to himself as wife.” In the ancient Hebrew world, a marriage like this would have been noted without alarm, though later Israelite law would forbid marriage to a father’s sister (Leviticus 18:12). The genealogy is not offering this as a model. It is simply stating the family facts that led to the birth of the leaders God chose.
Next comes “she bore him Aaron and Moses.” This is the heart of the verse. Two of the most important figures in the Old Testament were born into this ordinary household, and the verse makes clear that they were real people with real parents. The verse does not promise anything to the reader directly. It records what happened and trusts that the story will show how God worked through it.
The final clause gives Amram’s lifespan of 137 years. Scripture is recording a long, settled line of ancestry here, the sort of detail Israel’s ancestors would have treasured as proof of continuity from the patriarchs to the present generation.
The Context of Exodus 6:20
Exodus is traditionally attributed to Moses, who writes about the events of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Its first audience was the Israelite community that had survived slavery and was being shaped into a covenant nation at Sinai. Verse 20 sits inside a list of Levite families (verses 16 to 25). Just before it, verses 17 to 19 name the sons of Gershon, Kohath and Merari, the three main Levitical clans, and just after it, verses 21 to 23 continue with the sons of Izhar, Uzziel, and Aaron’s own marriage and children.
Seen in that setting, the verse is not a stray detail. It is one entry in a careful register that shows which families stood behind the priesthood. Because Aaron is named here as Amram’s son, readers can see the line that would soon serve at the tabernacle. The surrounding list helps explain why this brief family note matters so much to the story that follows.
Key Phrases in Exodus 6:20
Exodus 2:1-2
1 A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. 2 The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
(WEB)
These verses introduce Moses’ birth to a Levite couple, the same tribe as the family in Exodus 6:20. Reading them together shows how the genealogy connects to the actual story of Moses’ early life and his rescue from Pharaoh’s decree.
Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
(WEB)
Paul writes that God works all things together for good for those who love him. Exodus 6:20 shows that God’s purposes were already moving through ordinary family lines long before Israel saw the outcome, which gives this promise a deep biblical background.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 6:20
Lord, you have always worked through real families, with all their history, love, and tangled stories. Thank you that Amram and Jochebed were part of your plan to bring Aaron and Moses into the world. Help me to see my own family with honest eyes, neither hiding its flaws nor forgetting the ways you have been faithful within it. Use the ordinary people in my life to show your steady care, and help me trust that you are still working through every generation. Amen.
