Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,^[a] the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,^[b] the mountain of God.^{(A) 2} Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush.^(B) As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. ³ So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

⁵ “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”^{(C) 6} Then he continued, “I am the God of your father,^[c] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”^(D) Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out^(E) because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey^(F)—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.^{(G) 9} So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing^(H) them, ¹⁰ therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses asked God, “Who am I^(I) that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² He answered, “I will certainly be with you,^(J) and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship^[d] God at this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses asked God, “If I go 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 should I tell them?”

¹⁴ God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.^[e](K) This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever;^(L) this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

¹⁰ But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”^[a](A)

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?^{(B) 12} Now go! I will help you speak^[b] and I will teach you what to say.”^(C)

¹³ Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”^[c]

¹⁴ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. ¹⁵ You will speak with him and tell him what to say.^(D) I will help both you and him to speak^[d] and will teach you both what to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him. ¹⁷ And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”^(E)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit^(A) is love,^(B) joy,^(C) peace, patience,^(D) kindness,^(E) goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness,^(F) and self-control.^(G) The law is not against such things.^[a]