Exodus 3:4–14

^4*When the Lord saw that Moses was coming closer, he called to him from the middle of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!”

He answered, “Yes, here I am.”

^5*God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. ^6*I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” So Moses covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

^7*Then the Lord said, “I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave-drivers. I know all about their sufferings, ^8*and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile and in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites now live. ^9*I have indeed heard the cry of my people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them. ^10*Now I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead my people out of his country.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

The Promises to Be with His People

¹²God answered, “I will be with you, and when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will worship me on this mountain. That will be the proof that I have sent you.”

^13*But Moses replied, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ So what can I tell them?”

^14*God said, “I am who I am. This is what you must say to them: ‘The one who is called I AM^f has sent me to you.’