The Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the ^(A)mountain of God. ^2 (B)And ^(C)the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, ^(D)God called to him ^(E)out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; ^(F)take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And he said, ^(G)“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 ^(H)he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Then the Lord said, ^(I)“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their ^(J)taskmasters. I know their sufferings, ⁸ and ^(K)I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and ^(L)to bring them up out of that land to a ^(M)good and broad land, a land ^(N)flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(O)the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(P)the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the ^(Q)oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ^10 (R)Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, ^(S)“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² He said, ^(T)“But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^(U)you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”^[a] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ^(V)‘I am has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord,^[b] the ^(W)God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is ^(X)my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Praise the Name of the Lord

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Now concerning ^(A)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our ^(B)being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,^{[a] 2} not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^(C)alarmed, either ^(D)by a spirit or a ^(E)spoken word, or ^(F)a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that ^(G)the day of the Lord has come. ^3 (H)Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, ^(I)unless the rebellion comes first, and ^(J)the man of lawlessness^[b] is revealed, ^(K)the son of destruction,^{[c] 4} who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, ^(L)proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For ^(M)the mystery of lawlessness ^(N)is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸ And then ^(O)the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus ^(P)will kill with ^(Q)the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by ^(R)the appearance of his coming.

Stand Firm

¹³ But ^(A)we ought always to give thanks to God for you, ^(B)brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you ^(C)as the firstfruits^{[a] (D)}to be saved, ^(E)through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through ^(F)our gospel, ^(G)so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, ^(H)stand firm and hold to ^(I)the traditions that you were taught by us, either ^(J)by our spoken word or by ^(K)our letter.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, ^(L)who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good ^(M)hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and ^(N)establish them in every good work and word.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²⁷ There came to him ^(A)some Sadducees, ^(B)those who deny that there is a resurrection, ²⁸ and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us ^(C)that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man^[a] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. ³⁰ And the second ³¹ and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. ³² Afterward the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

³⁴ And Jesus said to them, ^(D)“The sons of this age ^(E)marry and ^(F)are given in marriage, ³⁵ but those who are ^(G)considered worthy to attain to ^(H)that age and to the resurrection from the dead ^(I)neither marry ^(J)nor are given in marriage, ³⁶ for ^(K)they cannot die anymore, because they are ^(L)equal to angels and ^(M)are ^(N)sons of God, being ^(O)sons^[b] of the resurrection. ³⁷ But that the dead are raised, ^(P)even Moses showed, in ^(Q)the passage about the bush, where he calls ^(R)the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all ^(S)live to him.” ³⁹ Then some of the scribes ^(T)answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ For ^(U)they no longer dared to ask him any question.