Exodus 3.1 – 4:17
Moses and the Burning Bush
3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-
in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the
flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the
mountain of God. 2There the angel of the LORD appeared
to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn
up. 3So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this
strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look,
God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your
sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy
ground.” 6Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid
to look at God.
7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of
my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because
of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about
their suffering. 8So I have come down to rescue them
from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up
out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land
flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I
have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my
people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go
to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be
the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you
have brought the people out of Egypt, you a will worship
God on this mountain.”
13Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites
and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to
you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what
shall I tell them?”
14God said to Moses, “I AMWHO I AM. b This is what you
are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
15God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The
LORD, c the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to
you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am
to be remembered from generation to generation.
16“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them,
‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have
watched over you and have seen what has been done to
you in Egypt. 17And I have promised to bring you up out
of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a
land flowing with milk and honey.’
18“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you
and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to
him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with
us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer
sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ 19But I know that the
king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand
compels him. 20So I will stretch out my hand and strike
the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform
among them. After that, he will let you go.
21“And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed
toward this people, so that when you leave you will not
go empty-handed. 22Every woman is to ask her neighbor
and any woman living in her house for articles of silver
and gold and for clothing, which you will put on
your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the
Egyptians.”
Signs for Moses
4 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or
listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to
you’?”
2Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your
hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
3The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a
snake, and he ran from it. 4Then the LORD said to him,
“Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses
reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned
back into a staff in his hand. 5“This,” said the LORD, “is so
that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
6Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your
cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when
he took it out, it was leprous, d like snow.
7“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses
put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it
out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or
pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe
the second. 9But if they do not believe these two
signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile
and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from
the river will become blood on the ground.”
10Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been
eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken
to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth?
Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or
makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12Now go; I will
help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
13But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else
to do it.”
14Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and
he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I
know he can speak well. He is already on his way to
meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you.
15You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I
will help both of you speak and will teach you what to
do. 16He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as
if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.
17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform
miraculous signs with it.”