Exodus 3–12

The Lord Sends Moses to Save His People

3Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. Jethro was the priest of Midian. Moses led the flock to the western side of the desert. He came to Horeb. It was the mountain of God.

²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him from inside a burning bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire. But it didn’t burn up. ³So Moses thought, “I’ll go over and see this strange sight. Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

⁴The Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look. So God spoke to him from inside the bush. He called out, “Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am,” Moses said.

⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.” ⁶He continued, “I am the God of your father. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.”

When Moses heard that, he turned his face away. He was afraid to look at God.

⁷The Lord said, “I have seen my people suffer in Egypt. I have heard them cry out because of their slave drivers. I am concerned about their suffering.

⁸“So I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them up out of that land. I will bring them into a good land. It has a lot of room. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey. It is the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

⁹“And now Israel’s cry for help has reached me. I have seen the way the Egyptians are beating them down. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh. I want you to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. They are my people.”

¹¹But Moses spoke to God. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” he said. “Who am I that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²God said, “I will be with you. I will give you a miraculous sign. It will prove that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship me on this mountain.”

¹³Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the people of Israel. Suppose I say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Suppose they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Here is what you must say to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ”

¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord is the God of your fathers. He has sent me to you. He is the God of Abraham. He is the God of Isaac. And he is the God of Jacob.’ My name will always be The Lord. Remember me by that name for all time to come.

¹⁶“Go. Gather the elders of Israel together. Say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to me. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

“ ‘He said, “I have watched over you. I have seen what the Egyptians have done to you. ¹⁷I have promised to bring you up out of Egypt where you are suffering. I will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” ’

¹⁸“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders must go to the king of Egypt. You must say to him, ‘The Lord has met with us. He is the God of the Hebrews. Let us take a journey that lasts about three days. We want to go into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’

¹⁹“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you and your people go. Only a mighty hand could make him do that. ²⁰So I will reach my hand out. I will strike the Egyptians with all kinds of miracles. After that, he will let you go.

²¹“I will cause the Egyptians to treat you in a kind way. Then when you leave, you will not go out with your hands empty. ²²Every woman should ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles made out of silver and gold. Ask them for clothes too. Put them on your children. In that way, you will take the wealth of Egypt along with you.”

Miraculous Signs for Moses to Do

4Moses answered, “What if the elders of Israel won’t believe me? What if they won’t listen to me? Suppose they say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.’ Then what should I do?”

²The Lord said to him, “What do you have in your hand?”

“A wooden staff,” he said.

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

So Moses threw it on the ground. It turned into a snake. He ran away from it. ⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach your hand out. Take the snake by the tail.” So he reached out and grabbed hold of the snake. It turned back into a staff in his hand.

⁵The Lord said, “When they see this miraculous sign, they will believe that I appeared to you. I am the God of their fathers. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.”

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

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

⁸Then the Lord said, “Suppose they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miracle. Then maybe they will believe the second one.

⁹“But suppose they do not believe either miracle. Suppose they will not listen to you. Then get some water from the Nile River. Pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will turn to blood on the ground.”

¹⁰Moses spoke to the Lord. He said, “Lord, I’ve never been a good speaker. And I haven’t gotten any better since you spoke to me. I don’t speak very well at all.”

¹¹The Lord said to him, “Who makes a man able to talk? Who makes him unable to hear or speak? Who makes him able to see? Who makes him blind? It is I, the Lord. ¹²Now go. I will help you speak. I will teach you what to say.”

¹³But Moses said, “Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

¹⁴Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses. He said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you. He will be glad to see you. ¹⁵Speak to him. Put your words in his mouth. Tell him what to say. I will help both of you speak. I will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be like your mouth. And you will be like God to him.

¹⁷“But take this wooden staff in your hand. You will be able to do miraculous signs with it.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro. He said to him, “Let me go back to my own people in Egypt. I want to see if any of them are still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go. I hope everything goes well with you.”

¹⁹The Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt. All of the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁰So Moses got his wife and sons. He put them on a donkey. Together they started back to Egypt. And he took the wooden staff in his hand. It was the staff God would use in a powerful way.

²¹The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “When you return to Egypt, do all of the miracles I have given you the power to do. Do them in the sight of Pharaoh. But I will make his heart stubborn. He will not let the people go.

²²“Then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says, “Israel is like an oldest son to me. ²³I told you, ‘Let my son go. Then he will be able to worship me.’ But you refused to let him go. So I will kill your oldest son.” ’ ”

²⁴On the way to Egypt, Moses stopped for the night. There the Lord met him and was about to kill him.

²⁵But Zipporah got a knife that was made out of hard stone. She circumcised her son with it. Then she touched Moses’ feet with the skin she had cut off. “You are a husband who has forced me to spill my son’s blood,” she said. ²⁶So the Lord didn’t kill Moses. When she said “husband who has forced me to spill my son’s blood,” she was talking about circumcision.

²⁷The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to see Moses.” So he greeted Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

²⁸Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say. He also told him about all of the miraculous signs he had commanded him to do.

²⁹Moses and Aaron gathered all of the elders of Israel together. ³⁰Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also did the miracles in the sight of the people.

³¹And they believed. They heard that the Lord was concerned about them. He had seen their suffering. So they bowed down and worshiped him.

Pharaoh Makes the Israelites Work Even Harder

5Later on, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said, “The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Let my people go. Then they will be able to hold a feast in my honor in the desert.’ ”

²Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I don’t even know the Lord. And I won’t let Israel go.”

³Then Moses and Aaron said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a journey that lasts about three days. We want to go into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t, he might strike us with plagues. Or he might let us be killed with swords.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to work!” ⁵Pharaoh continued, “There are large numbers of your people in the land. But you are stopping them from working.”

⁶That same day Pharaoh gave orders to the slave drivers and the others who were in charge of the people. ⁷He said, “Don’t give the people any more straw to make bricks. Let them go and get their own straw. ⁸But require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don’t lower the number they have to make. They don’t want to work. That’s why they are crying out, ‘Let us go. We want to offer sacrifices to our God.’ ⁹Make them work harder. Then they will be too busy to pay attention to lies.”

¹⁰The slave drivers and the others who were in charge left. They said to the people, “Pharaoh says, ‘I won’t give you any more straw. ¹¹Go and get your own straw anywhere you can find it. But you still have to make the same number of bricks.’ ”

¹²So the people scattered all over Egypt.…