1 Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the
priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came
to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 An angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a
bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 Moses said,
"I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why
doesn't the bush burn up?" 4 When the Lord saw that he
had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush:
"Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am." 5
And He said, "Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from
your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. 6 I
am," He said, "the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 And the Lord
continued, "I have marked well the plight of My people in
Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters;
yes, I am mindful of their sufferings. 8 I have come down to
rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land
to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey,
the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now the cry of the
Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the
Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, therefore, I will send you to
Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from
Egypt."
11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?" 12
And He said, "I will be with you; that shall be your sign
that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people
from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."
13 Moses said to God, "When I come 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?' what shall I say to
them?" 14 And God said to Moses,
"Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh." He continued, "Thus shall you
say to the Israelites, 'Ehyeh sent me to you.'" 15
And God said further to Moses, "Thus shall you speak to the
Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to
you:
This shall be My name forever,
This My appellation for all
eternity.
16 "Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say
to them: the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said, 'I have taken
note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt, 17 and I
have declared: I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to the
land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing
with milk and honey.' 18 They will listen to you; then you
shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you
shall say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews,
manifested Himself to us. Now therefore, let us go a distance of
three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our
God.' 19 Yet I know that the king of Egypt will let you go
only because of a greater might. 20 So I will stretch out My hand
and smite Egypt with various wonders which I will work upon them;
after that he shall let you go. 21 And I will dispose the
Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you
will not go away empty-handed. 22 Each woman shall borrow from
her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and
gold, and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and
daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians."
Chapter 4
1 But Moses spoke up and said, "What if they do not believe me and
do not listen to me, but say: The Lord did not appear to
you?" 2 The Lord said to him, "What is that in your
hand?" And he replied, "A rod." 3 He said,
"Cast it on the ground." He cast it on the ground and
it became a snake; and Moses recoiled from it. 4 Then the Lord
said to Moses, "Put out your hand and grasp it by the
tail" — he put out his hand and seized it, and it
became a rod in his hand — 5 "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, did appear to you."
6 The Lord said to him further, "Put your hand into your
bosom." He put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it
out, his hand was encrusted with snowy scales! 7 And He said,
"Put your hand back into your bosom." — He put
his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out of his
bosom, there it was again like the rest of his body. — 8
"And if they do not believe you or pay heed to the first
sign, they will believe the second. 9 And if they are not
convinced by both these signs and still do not heed you, take
some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and it
— the water that you take from the Nile — will turn
to blood on the dry ground."
10 But Moses said to the Lord,
"Please, O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in
times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow
of speech and slow of tongue." 11 And the Lord said to him,
"Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or
blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with you
as you speak and will instruct you what to say." 13 But he
said, "Please, O Lord, make someone else Your agent."
The Lord became angry with Moses, and He said, "There is
your brother Aaron the Levite. He, I know, speaks readily. Even
now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see
you. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth
— I will be with you and with him as you speak, and tell
both of you what to do — 16 and he shall speak for you to
the people. Thus he shall serve as your spokesman, with you
playing the role of God to him, 17 And take with you this rod,
with which you shall perform the signs." <