Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the religious leader of Midian. He led the flock to the west side of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the Angel of the Lord showed Himself to Moses in a burning fire from inside a bush. Moses looked and saw that the bush was burning with fire, but it was not being burned up. ³ So Moses said, “I must step aside and see this great thing, why the bush is not being burned up.”

⁴ The Lord saw him step aside to look. And God called to him from inside the bush, saying, “Moses, Moses!” Moses answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ God said, “Do not come near. Take your shoes off your feet. For the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face. For he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ The Lord said, “I have seen the suffering of My people in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of the men who make them work. I know how they suffer. ⁸ So I have come down to save them from the power of the Egyptians. I will bring them out of that land to a good big land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. ⁹ Now the cry of the people of Israel has come to Me. I have seen what power the Egyptians use to make it hard for them. ¹⁰ Now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² God said, “But I will be with you. And this will be something special for you to see to know that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “See, I am going to the people of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they might say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I say to them?” ¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ Again He said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘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 is My name forever. By this name I am to be remembered by all people for all time. ¹⁶ Go and gather together the leaders of Israel. Say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has shown Himself to me. And He said, “I have visited you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ I promise to bring you out of the suffering of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’” ¹⁸ They will listen to what you say. Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now we ask you to let us travel three days to the desert to give gifts on an altar in worship to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, except by a powerful hand. ²⁰ So I will put out My hand and trouble Egypt with all the powerful works I will do there. After that he will let you go. ²¹ And I will give these people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. When you go, you will not go empty handed. ²² But each woman will get from her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, things made of silver and gold, and clothes that you will put on your sons and daughters. You will take the best of things from the Egyptians.”

Moses Is Given Special Power

4 Then Moses answered, “What if they will not believe me or listen to me? They might say, ‘The Lord has not shown Himself to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” Moses said, “A stick.” ³ Then the Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. And Moses ran from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and take it by its tail.” So Moses put out his hand and caught it. And it became a stick in his hand. ⁵ The Lord said, “By seeing this 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 shown Himself to you.”

⁶ The Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, his hand had a bad skin disease and was white as snow. ⁷ Then God said, “Put your hand inside your coat again.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat again. When he took it out of his coat, he saw that it had become like his other flesh. ⁸ God said, “If they will not listen to you or believe you when they are shown the first thing, they may believe when this is shown to them. ⁹ But they might not believe even these two things or listen to what you say. So then take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. And the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ Moses said to the Lord, “Lord, I am not a man of words. I have never been. Even now since You spoke to Your servant, I still am not. For I am slow in talking and it is difficult for me to speak.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes a man not able to speak or hear? Who makes one blind or able to see? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² So go now. And I will be with your mouth. I will teach you what to say.”

¹³ But Moses said, “O Lord, I ask of You, send some other person.”

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses. He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know he can speak well. Also, he is coming to meet you. And when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You must speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and his mouth. I will teach you what you are to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you. He will be a mouth for you. And you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ You will take this special stick in your hand. And you will use it to make the special things happen for the people to see.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Then Moses left and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “I ask of you, let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Return to Egypt. For all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the special stick of God in his hand.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, make sure you show Pharaoh all the works that I have placed in your power. But I will make his heart hard so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says this: “Israel is My son, My first-born. ²³ And I say to you, ‘Let My son go. Let him work for Me.’ But if you will not let him go, I will kill your son, your first-born.”’”

²⁴ The Lord met Moses at a resting place on the way and would have put him to death. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a knife and cut off her son’s piece of skin and threw it at Moses’ feet. And she said, “For sure you are a husband of blood to me.” ²⁶ Then the Lord let him alone. Zipporah said, “You are a husband of blood,” because of the religious act of becoming a Jew.

²⁷ The Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the desert.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸ Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him. And he told him about all the special works that the Lord had told him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the leaders of the people of Israel. ³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did all the special works for the people to see. ³¹ So the people believed. When they heard that the Lord cared about the people of Israel and had seen their suffering, they bowed to the ground and worshiped.