Exodus 6:20 records the marriage of Amram and Jochebed and the birth of their two sons, Aaron and Moses, and it gives Amram’s lifespan at the end. In plain terms, the verse tells us that God’s deliverers came from ordinary family life, through a real marriage and real children in the line of Levi. The verse is part of the genealogy that Moses’s own book includes right before God calls Moses to speak to Pharaoh. It is narrated by the writer of Exodus, traditionally held to be Moses himself, and it is addressed to the people of Israel as they read their own family history.
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.” Marrying a father’s sister was permitted in that period of Israel’s history and only later was prohibited in the law given at Sinai. The text simply records the fact of the union without comment, so the point is not to approve or condemn the custom but to identify the family whose sons will matter. The phrase “she bore him Aaron and Moses” names the two brothers who will lead Israel out of Egypt, one as spokesman and one as the mediator of the law.
The closing clause, “the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty-seven years,” is a formula the genealogies use to mark a man’s lifespan. It does not promise anything about how long you will live, and it does not teach a rule about age. What it does is anchor the story to real people with dates and families, which is part of what makes Scripture’s account of God’s work concrete rather than vague.
The Context of Exodus 6:20
Exodus is traditionally attributed to Moses and was written for the people of Israel as they stood between slavery in Egypt and the promised land. Chapter 6 sits inside a larger movement in which God reaffirms his covenant with the patriarchs and promises to free their descendants. Verses 17 to 19 list the sons of Gershon, Kohath and Merari, the three main Levite clans, and verses 21 to 23 continue with the sons of Izhar, Uzziel and Aaron’s own marriage. Verse 20 sits at the center of this list, and it is the only place where the book of Exodus names Aaron and Moses as the children of Amram.
Reading the verse inside this list changes its weight. The genealogy is not a dry filler; it shows that the men who will confront Pharaoh belong to a specific tribe with a specific history, and that God has been working through that lineage across generations. Surrounding verses also show that the Levites were set apart for service, so the families named here were the ones entrusted with the tabernacle and the priesthood later on.
Key Phrases in Exodus 6:20
Genesis 12:2-3
2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treates you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
(WEB)
This passage has God promising Abram that his descendants will become a great nation and that blessing will flow through him to all families of the earth. Exodus 6:20 shows that promise moving forward through one particular family line into the generation of Moses and Aaron.
Exodus 3:10
Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
(WEB)
When God calls Moses at the burning bush and sends him to Pharaoh, the summons arrives to a man whose family has just been named in chapter 6. Reading the two passages together shows that the child listed in the genealogy is the same man God now commissions to bring Israel out of Egypt.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 6:20
Lord, you knew Amram and Jochebed by name and recorded the years of their lives in your word. Thank you that you work through ordinary families and ordinary years to accomplish what you intend. Help me trust you with the people I love and with the quiet seasons where nothing seems to be happening. Let my life, like theirs, be held in your care, and let me be faithful with what you have given me today. Amen.
