Exodus 3:1-9 ▼

1 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.

2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked--and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!

3 So Moses thought, |I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?|

4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, |Moses, Moses!| And Moses said, |Here I am.|

5 God said, |Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.|

6 He added, |I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.| Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The LORD said, |I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

8 I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

9 And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.