7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying outo because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honeyp—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.q 9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressingr them, 10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses asked God, “Who am Is that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 He answered, “I will certainly be with you,t and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worshipG God at this mountain.”

13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.H,u This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever;v this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.w 17 And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypta to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.b

19 “However, I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, even under force from a strong hand.c 20 But when I stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles that I will perform in it, after that, he will let you go.d 21 And I will give these people such favor with the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.e 22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”f

MIRACULOUS SIGNS FOR MOSES

4 Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appearg to you’?”

2 The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

3 “Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5 “This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”h

6 In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow.A,i 7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.j 8 “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”k

10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”B,l

11 The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?m 12 Now go! I will help you speakC and I will teach you what to say.”n

13 Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”D