Exodus 3:4–14

⁴When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called^s to him from within the bush,^t “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”^u

⁵“Do not come any closer,”^v God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”^{w 6}Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^a the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”^x At this, Moses hid^y his face, because he was afraid to look at God.^z

⁷The Lord said, “I have indeed seen^a the misery^b of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned^c about their suffering.^{d 8}So I have come down^e to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,^f a land flowing with milk and honey^g—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites^h and Jebusites.^{i 9}And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing^j them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending^k you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”^l

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I^m that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²And God said, “I will be with you.ⁿ And this will be the sign^o to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^b will worship God on this mountain.^p”

¹³Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’^q Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I am who I am.^c This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am^r has sent me to you.’ ”