Exodus 3:4–14

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.’ ”