Exodus 3:4–14

⁴When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”^{* 6}He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.^*

⁷Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,^{* 8}and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.^{* 9}The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.^{* 10}Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”^{* 11}But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”^*

The Divine Name Revealed

¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”^e He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”^*