Exodus 3–4

Chapter 3

The Burning Bush

¹Now Moses was pasturing the flock of ^aJethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the ¹west side of the wilderness and came to ^bHoreb, the ^cmountain of God.

^2aThe angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of ¹a ^bbush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

³So Moses said, “^1aI must turn aside now and see this ²marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”

⁴When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, ^aGod called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

⁵Then He said, “Do not come near here; ^aremove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

⁶He said also, “^aI am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ^bThen Moses hid his face, for he was ^cafraid to look at God.

⁷The Lord said, “I have surely ^aseen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

⁸“So I have come down ^ato deliver them from the ¹power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a ^bgood and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^cthe Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

⁹“Now, behold, ^athe cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

The Mission of Moses

¹⁰“Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, ^aso that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “^aWho am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹²And He said, “Certainly ^aI will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: ^bwhen you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^cyou shall ¹worship God at this mountain.”

¹³Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “^1aI AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

¹⁵God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘^aThe 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, and this is My ^bmemorial-name ¹to all generations.

¹⁶“Go and ^agather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^bThe Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “^1cI am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

¹⁷“So ^aI said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of ^bthe Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land ^cflowing with milk and honey.” ’

¹⁸“^aThey will ¹pay heed to what you say; and ^byou with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a ^cthree days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’

¹⁹“But I know that the king of Egypt ^awill not permit you to go, ^bexcept ¹under compulsion.

²⁰“So I will stretch out ^aMy hand and strike Egypt with all My ^bmiracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and ^cafter that he will let you go.

²¹“I will grant this people ^afavor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

²²“But every woman ^ashall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will ^bplunder the Egyptians.”

Chapter 4

Moses Given Powers

¹Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or ^alisten ¹to what I say? For they may say, ‘^bThe Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

²The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “^aA staff.”

³Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^ait became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.

⁴But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his ¹hand—

⁵“that ^athey may believe that ^bthe Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^aleprous like snow.

⁷Then He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, ^ait was restored like the rest of his flesh.

⁸“If they will not believe you or ¹heed the ²witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign.

⁹“But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile ^awill become blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, ^aI have never been ¹eloquent, neither ²recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am ³slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

¹¹The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or ^awho makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

¹²“Now then go, and ^aI, even I, will be with your mouth, and ^bteach you what you are to say.”

¹³But he said, “Please, Lord, now ¹send the message by whomever You will.”

Aaron to Be Moses’ Mouthpiece

¹⁴Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ¹he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, ^ahe is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵“You are to speak to him and ^aput the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do.

¹⁶“Moreover, ^ahe shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him.

¹⁷“You shall take in your hand ^athis staff, ^bwith which you shall perform the signs.”

¹⁸Then Moses departed and returned to ¹Jethro ^ahis father-in-law and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go ¹back to Egypt, for ^aall the men who were seeking your life are dead.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and his ^asons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^bstaff of God in his hand.

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “When you go ¹back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all ^athe wonders which I have put in your ²power; but ^bI will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

²²“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^aIsrael is My son, My firstborn.

²³“So I said to you, ‘^aLet My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^bI will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

²⁴Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him and ^asought to put him to death.

²⁵Then Zipporah took ^aa flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and ¹threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.”

²⁶So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood”—¹because of the circumcision.

^27aNow the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the ^bmountain of God and kissed him.

^28aMoses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and ^ball the signs that He had commanded him to do.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and ^aassembled all the elders of the sons of Israel;

³⁰and ^aAaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the ^bsigns in the sight of the people.

³¹So ^athe people believed; and when they heard that the Lord ^1bwas concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then ^cthey bowed low and worshiped.