The Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of his father-in-law ^(A)Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the ^[a]west side of the wilderness and came to ^(B)Horeb, the ^(C)mountain of God. ² Then ^(D)the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of ^[b]a ^(E)bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed. ³ So Moses said, “^(F)I must turn aside and see this ^[c]marvelous sight, why the bush is not burning up!” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, ^(G)God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then He said, “Do not come near here; ^(H)remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And He said, “^(I)I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ^(J)Then Moses hid his face, for he was ^(K)afraid to look at God.

⁷ And the Lord said, “I have certainly ^(L)seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ So I have come down ^(M)to rescue them from the ^[d]power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a ^(N)good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(O)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(P)the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

The Mission of Moses

¹⁰ And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, ^(Q)so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “^(R)Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² And He said, “Assuredly ^(S)I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: ^(T)when you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^(U)you shall ^[e]worship God at this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “^[f](V)I AM WHO ^[g]I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘^[h]I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God furthermore said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘^(W)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is the ^[i](X)name for ^[j]all generations to use to call upon Me. ¹⁶ Go and ^(Y)gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^(Z)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “^[k](AA)I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ So ^(AB)I said, I will bring you up out of the oppression of Egypt to the land of ^(AC)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land ^(AD)flowing with milk and honey.”’ ¹⁸ Then ^(AE)they will ^[l]pay attention to what you say; and ^(AF)you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please let us go a ^(AG)three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt ^(AH)will not permit you to go, ^(AI)except ^[m]under compulsion. ²⁰ So I will reach out with ^(AJ)My hand and strike Egypt with all My ^(AK)miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and ^(AL)after that he will let you go. ²¹ I will grant this people ^(AM)favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. ²² But every woman ^(AN)shall ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will ^(AO)plunder the Egyptians.”

Jesus, the Example

12 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s ^(A)rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s ^(B)run with ^(C)endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking only at Jesus, the ^[a](D)originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, ^(F)despising the shame, and has ^(G)sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For ^(H)consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary ^[b](I)and lose heart.

A Father’s Discipline

^4 (J)You have not yet resisted ^[c](K)to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; ⁵ and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

⁷ It is for discipline that you endure; ^(P)God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, ^(Q)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had ^[d]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we ^(R)respected them; shall we not much more be subject to ^(S)the Father of ^[e]spirits, and ^(T)live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, ^(U)so that we may share His holiness. ^11 (V)For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the ^(W)peaceful fruit of righteousness.

¹² Therefore, ^[f](X)strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, ¹³ and ^(Y)make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather ^(Z)be healed.

^14 (AA)Pursue peace with all people, and the ^(AB)holiness without which no one will ^(AC)see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one ^(AD)comes short of the grace of God; that no ^(AE)root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become ^(AF)defiled; ¹⁶ that there be no ^(AG)sexually immoral or ^(AH)godless person like Esau, ^(AI)who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterward, ^(AJ)when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

Contrast of Sinai and Zion

^18 (AK)For you have not come to ^(AL)a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, ¹⁹ and to the ^(AM)blast of a trumpet and the ^(AN)sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard ^(AO)begged that no further word be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not ^[g]cope with the command, “^(AP)If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “^(AQ)I am terrified and trembling.” ²² But ^(AR)you have come to Mount Zion and to ^(AS)the city of ^(AT)the living God, ^(AU)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(AV)myriads of ^[h]angels, ²³ to the general assembly and ^(AW)church of the firstborn who ^(AX)are enrolled in heaven, and to God, ^(AY)the Judge of all, and to the ^(AZ)spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the ^(BA)mediator of a new covenant, and to the ^(BB)sprinkled blood, which speaks better than ^(BC)the blood of Abel.

The Unshaken Kingdom

^25 (BD)See to it that you do not refuse Him who is ^(BE)speaking. For ^(BF)if those did not escape when they ^(BG)refused him who ^(BH)warned them on earth, ^[i]much less will we escape who turn away from Him who ^(BI)warns us from heaven. ²⁶ And ^(BJ)His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “^(BK)Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes ^(BL)the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we receive a ^(BM)kingdom which cannot be shaken, let’s ^[j]show gratitude, by which we may ^(BN)offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for ^(BO)our God is a consuming fire.