Exodus 3:1-15

GOD’S WORD Translation

Moses at the Burning Bush

3 Moses was taking care of the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. As he led the sheep to the far side of the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

² The Messenger of the Lord appeared to him there as flames of fire coming out of a bush. Moses looked, and although the bush was on fire, it was not burning up. ³ So he thought, “Why isn’t this bush burning up? I must go over there and see this strange sight.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that Moses had come over to see it, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

Moses answered, “Here I am!”

⁵ God said, “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals because this place where you are standing is holy ground. ⁶ I am the God of your ancestors,^[a] the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard them crying out because of the slave drivers. I know how much they’re suffering. ⁸ I have come to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good land with plenty of room ⌞for everyone⌟. It is a land flowing with milk and honey where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. ⁹ I have heard the cry of the people of Israel. I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you can bring my people Israel out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² God answered, “I will be with you. And this will be the proof that I sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses replied to God, “Suppose I go to the people of Israel 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 answered Moses, “I Am Who I Am. This is what you must say to the people of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ”

¹⁵ Again God said to Moses, “This is what you must say to the people of Israel: The Lord God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is my title throughout every generation.