28 And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt,

29 That the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I am the Lord: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee.

30 And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?

Back in verses 10 through 12 we heard the start of a conversation between Moses and God, where Moses was discouraged because the Israelite people had not believed his message from the Lord. This conversation was interrupted by the record of Levitical genealogy, and todays verses seem to be recapping where the exchange had left off.

Moses had failed to convince the Israelites that God would liberate them, and now he was being asked to get Pharaoh to believe God’s words instead. Moses was sure that he could not do this. He had “uncircumcised lips,” he did not speak well, he could not see himself being up to the task. We have already examined God’s response to this fear in the first account of these events, but there is a notable difference in this second version which we will review in the next verses.