Exodus 3:1-15 ▼

1 And Moses has been feeding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, priest of Midian, and he leads the flock behind the wilderness, and comes to the mountain of God, to Horeb;

2 and the Messenger of YHWH appears to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of the bush, and he sees, and behold, the bush is burning with fire, and the bush is not consumed.

3 And Moses says, “Now I turn aside and see this great appearance. Why is the bush not burned?”

4 And YHWH sees that he has turned aside to see, and God calls to him out of the midst of the bush and says, “Moses! Moses!” And he says, “Here I [am].”

5 And He says, “Do not come near here. Cast your shoes from off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

6 He also says, “I [am] the God of your father, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob”; and Moses hides his face, for he is afraid to look toward God.

7 And YHWH says, “I have certainly seen the affliction of My people who [are] in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of its exactors, for I have known its pains;

8 and I go down to deliver it out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to cause it to go up out of the land to a land good and broad, to a land flowing with milk and honey—to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

9 And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them,

10 and now, come, and I send you to Pharaoh; and bring out My people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt.”

11 And Moses says to God, “Who [am] I, that I go to Pharaoh, and that I bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt?”

12 And He says, “Because I am with you, and this [is] the sign to you that I have sent you: in your bringing out the people from Egypt—you serve God on this mountain.”

13 And Moses says to God, “Behold, I am coming to the sons of Israel, and have said to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they have said to me, What [is] His Name? What do I say to them?”

14 And God says to Moses, “I AM THAT WHICH I AM.” He also says, “Thus you say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

15 And God says again to Moses, “Thus you say to the sons of Israel: YHWH, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this [is] My Name for all time, and this [is] My memorial, to generation [and] generation.