Exodus 6:3

6:3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as ¹  God Almighty, ²  but by ³  my name ‘the Lord’ ⁴  I was not known to them. ⁵ 

Exodus 6:7

6:7 I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. ⁶  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to ⁷  the Egyptians.

[6:3]  ¹ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this construction should be classified as a bet essentiae, a bet of essence (see also GKC 379 §119.i).

[6:3]  ² tn The traditional rendering of the title as “Almighty” is reflected in LXX and Jerome. But there is still little agreement on the etymology and exact meaning of אֵל־שַׁדַּי (’el-shadday). Suggestions have included the idea of “mountain God,” meaning the high God, as well as “the God with breasts.” But there is very little evidence supporting such conclusions and not much reason to question the ancient versions.

[6:3]  ³ tn The noun שְׁמִי (shÿmi, “my name,” and “Yahweh” in apposition to it), is an adverbial accusative, specifying how the patriarchs “knew” him.

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh,” traditionally rendered in English as “the Lord.” The phrase has been placed in quotation marks in the translation to indicate it represents the tetragrammaton.

[6:3]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Niphal form נוֹדַעְתִּי (noda’ti). If the text had wanted to say, “I did not make myself known,” then a Hiphil form would have been more likely. It is saying, “but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.”

[6:7]  ⁶ sn These covenant promises are being reiterated here because they are about to be fulfilled. They are addressed to the nation, not individuals, as the plural suffixes show. Yahweh was their God already, because they had been praying to him and he is acting on their behalf. When they enter into covenant with God at Sinai, then he will be the God of Israel in a new way (19:4-6; cf. Gen 17:7-8; 28:20-22; Lev 26:11-12; Jer 24:7; Ezek 11:17-20).

[6:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “from under the burdens of” (so KJV, NASB); NIV “from under the yoke of.”