¹⁶ Go and ^(A)gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^(B)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “^[a](C)I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

¹⁸ Then ^(A)they will ^[a]pay attention to what you say; and ^(B)you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please let us go a ^(C)three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’