20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. 21 When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.s 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.t

23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’u

27 “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?D,v

29 “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.w 30 After forty years had passed, an angelE appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.A,a Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

33 “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.B,b

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?C—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.c 36 This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,d at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.e

ISRAEL’S REBELLION AGAINST GOD

37 “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: GodD will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.E,f 38 He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors.g He received living oracles to give to us.h 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.i 40 They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.F,j 41 They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.k 42 God turned awayl and gave them up to worshipm the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices

for forty years in the wilderness?

43 You took up the tent of Moloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship.

So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.G,n

GOD’S REAL TABERNACLE

44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.o