Exodus 3–12

The Burning Bush

3One day Moses was taking care of Jethro’s flock. (Jethro was the priest of Midian and also Moses’ father-in-law.) When Moses led the flock to the west side of the desert, he came to Sinai, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire coming out of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up. ³So he said, “I will go closer to this strange thing. How can a bush continue burning without burning up?”

⁴When the Lord saw Moses was coming to look at the bush, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

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

⁷The Lord said, “I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt, and I have heard their cries when the Egyptian slave masters hurt them. I am concerned about their pain, ⁸and I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them out of that land and lead them to a good land with lots of room—a fertile land. It is the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁹I have heard the cries of the people of Israel, and I have seen the way the Egyptians have made life hard for them. ¹⁰So now I am sending you to the king of Egypt. Go! Bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt!”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “I am not a great man! How can I go to the king and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²God said, “I will be with you. This will be the proof that I am sending you: After you lead the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship me on this mountain.”

¹³Moses said to God, “When I go to the Israelites, I will say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you.’ What if the people say, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”

¹⁴Then God said to Moses, “I am who I am. ⁿ When you go to the people of Israel, tell them, ‘I am sent me to you.’ ”

¹⁵God also said to Moses, “This is what you should tell the people: ‘The Lord is the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He sent me to you.’ This will always be my name, by which people from now on will know me.

¹⁶“Go and gather the elders and tell them this: ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me. He said, I care about you, and I have seen what has happened to you in Egypt. ¹⁷I promised I would take you out of your troubles in Egypt. I will lead you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a fertile land.’

¹⁸“The elders will listen to you. And then you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, appeared to us. Let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’

¹⁹“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go. Only a great power will force him to let you go, ²⁰so I will use my great power against Egypt. I will strike Egypt with all the miracles that will happen in that land. After I do that, he will let you go. ²¹I will cause the Egyptians to think well of the Israelites. So when you leave, they will give gifts to your people. ²²Each woman should ask her Egyptian neighbor and any Egyptian woman living in her house for gifts—silver, gold, and clothing. You should put those gifts on your children when you leave Egypt. In this way you will take with you the riches of the Egyptians.”

Proof for Moses

4Then Moses answered, “What if the people of Israel do not believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

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

Moses answered, “It is my walking stick.”

³The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from the snake, ⁴but the Lord said to him, “Reach out and grab the snake by its tail.” When Moses reached out and took hold of the snake, it again became a stick in his hand. ⁵The Lord said, “This is so that the Israelites will believe that the Lord appeared to you. I am the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, it was white with a skin disease.

⁷Then he said, “Now put your hand inside your coat again.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat again. When he took it out, his hand was healthy again, like the rest of his skin.

⁸Then the Lord said, “If the people do not believe you or pay attention to the first miracle, they may believe you when you show them this second miracle. ⁹After these two miracles, if they still do not believe or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water will become blood when it touches the ground.”

¹⁰But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been a skilled speaker. Even now, after talking to you, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and can’t find the best words.”

¹¹Then the Lord said to him, “Who made a person’s mouth? And who makes someone deaf or not able to speak? Or who gives a person sight or blindness? It is I, the Lord. ¹²Now go! I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

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

¹⁴The Lord became angry with Moses and said, “Your brother Aaron, from the family of Levi, is a skilled speaker. He is already coming to meet you, and he will be happy when he sees you. ¹⁵You will speak to Aaron and tell him what to say. I will help both of you to speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶Aaron will speak to the people for you. You will tell him what God says, and he will speak for you. ¹⁷Take your walking stick with you, and use it to do the miracles.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive.”

Jethro said to Moses, “Go! I wish you well.”

¹⁹While Moses was still in Midian, the Lord said to him, “Go back to Egypt, because the men who wanted to kill you are dead now.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and started back to Egypt. He took with him the walking stick of God.

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, do all the miracles I have given you the power to do. Show them to the king of Egypt. But I will make the king very stubborn, and he will not let the people go. ²²Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. ²³I told you to let my son go so he may worship me. But you refused to let Israel go, so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

²⁴As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night. The Lord met him there and tried to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised her son. Taking the skin, she touched Moses’ feet with it and said to him, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me.” ²⁶She said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because she had to circumcise her son. So the Lord let Moses alone.

²⁷Meanwhile the Lord said to Aaron, “Go out into the desert to meet Moses.” When Aaron went, he met Moses at Sinai, the mountain of God, and kissed him. ²⁸Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had said to him when he sent him to Egypt. He also told him about the miracles which the Lord had commanded him to do.

²⁹Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰and Aaron told them everything that the Lord had told Moses. Then Moses did the miracles for all the people to see, ³¹and the Israelites believed. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their troubles, they bowed down and worshiped him.

Moses and Aaron Before the King

5After Moses and Aaron talked to the people, they went to the king of Egypt and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go so they may hold a feast for me in the desert.’ ”

²But the king of Egypt said, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”

³Then Aaron and Moses said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t do this, he may kill us with a disease or in war.”

⁴But the king said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Go back to your jobs! ⁵There are very many Hebrews, and now you want them to quit working!”

⁶That same day the king gave a command to the slave masters and foremen. ⁷He said, “Don’t give the people straw to make bricks as you used to do. Let them gather their own straw. ⁸But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. Do not accept fewer. They have become lazy, and that is why they are asking me, ‘Let us go to offer sacrifices to our God.’ ⁹Make these people work harder and keep them busy; then they will not have time to listen to the lies of Moses.”

¹⁰So the slave masters and foremen went to the Israelites and said, “This is what the king says: I will no longer give you straw. ¹¹Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it. But you must make as many bricks as you made before.” ¹²So the people went everywhere in Egypt looking for dry stalks to use for straw. ¹³The slave masters kept forcing the people to work harder. They said, “You must make just as many bricks as you did when you were given straw.” ¹⁴The king’s slave masters had made the Israelite foremen responsible for the work the people did. The Egyptian slave masters beat these men and asked them, “Why aren’t you making as many bricks as you made in the past?”

¹⁵Then the Israelite foremen went to the king and complained, “Why are you treating us,…