Yahweh’s Plan to Rescue the Israelites

3 And Moses was a shepherd with the flock^[a] of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west of the desert, and he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ² And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and there was the bush burning with fire, but the bush was not being consumed. ³ And Moses said, “Let me turn aside and see this great sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” ⁴ And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and he said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he said, “You must not come near to here. Take off your sandals from on your feet, because the place on which you are standing, it is holy ground.” ⁶ And he said, “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 because he was afraid of looking at God.

⁷ And Yahweh said, “Surely I have seen the misery of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry of distress because of their oppressors, for I know their sufferings. ⁸ And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from this land to a good and wide land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites^[b] and the Hittites^[c] and the Amorites^[d] and the Perizzites^[e] and the Hivites^[f] and the Jebusites.^{[g] 9} And now, look, the cry of distress of the Israelites^[h] has come to me, and also I see the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and you must bring my people, the Israelites,^[i] out from Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites^[j] out from Egypt?” ¹² And he said, “Because I am with you, and this will be the sign for you that I myself have sent you: When you bring the people out from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.” ¹³ But Moses said to God, “Look, if I go to the Israelites^[k] and I say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors^[l] has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ then what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And he said, “So you must say to the Israelites,^[m] ‘I am sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ And God said again to Moses, “So you must say to the Israelites,^[n] ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^[o] 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 my remembrance from generation to generation.’ ¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^[p] appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “I have carefully attended to you and what has been done to you in Egypt.” ¹⁷ And I said, “I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites^[q] and the Hittites^[r] and the Amorites^[s] and the Perizzites^[t] and the Hivites^[u] and the Jebusites,^[v] to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ ¹⁸ And they will listen to your voice, and you will go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now let us please go on a journey of three days into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God.’

¹⁹ But I myself know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless compelled by a strong hand.^{[w] 20} And I will stretch out my hand, and I will strike Egypt with all of my wonders that I will do in its midst, and afterward^[x] he will release you. ²¹ And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and then^[y] when you go, you will not go empty-handed. ²² And a woman will ask from her neighbor and from the woman dwelling as an alien in her house for objects of silver and objects of gold and garments, and you will put them on your sons and on your daughters; and you will plunder Egypt.”

Yahweh Provides Signs and Help for Speaking

4 And Moses answered, and he said, “And if they do not believe me and they do not listen to my voice, but they say, ‘Yahweh did not appear to you?’” ² And Yahweh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it onto the ground.” And he threw it onto the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses fled from it. ⁴ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—” (And he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his palm.)— ⁵ “so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^[z] appeared to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

⁶ And Yahweh said to him again, “Put your hand into the fold of your garment.” And he put his hand into the fold of his garment, and he took it out, and, to his surprise,^[aa] his hand was afflicted with a skin disease, like snow. ⁷ And he said, “Return your hand to the fold of your garment.” And he returned his hand to the fold of his garment, and he took it out from the fold of his garment, and, to his surprise,^[ab] it was restored like the rest of his body. ⁸ “And^[ac] if they do not believe you and they will not listen to the voice of the former sign, then they will believe the voice of the latter sign. ⁹ And^[ad] if they also do not believe the second of these signs and they will not listen to your voice, then you must take water from the Nile and pour it onto the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ And Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, Lord, I am not a man of words, neither recently nor in the past nor since your speaking^[ae] to your servant, because I am heavy of mouth and of tongue.” ¹¹ And Yahweh said to him, “Who gave a mouth to humankind, or who makes mute or deaf or sighted or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? ¹² So then go, and I myself will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you must speak.” ¹³ And he said, “Please, Lord, do send anyone else whom you wish to send.”^{[af] 14} And Yahweh was angry with^[ag] Moses and said, “Is there not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he certainly can speak, and also there he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart. ¹⁵ And you will speak to him, and you will put words in his mouth, and I myself will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you must do. ¹⁶ And he will speak for you to the people, and then^[ah] he will be to you as a mouth, and you will be to him as a god. ¹⁷ And you must take this staff in your hand, with which you will do the signs.”

Moses Leaves Midian and Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ And Moses went, and he returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and he said to him, “Please let me go, and let me return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and let me see whether they are yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ And Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt because all the men have died who were seeking your life.”

²⁰ And Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on the donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand. ²¹ And Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go to return to Egypt, see all of the wonders that I have put in your hand, and do them before Pharaoh, and I myself will harden his heart, and he will not release the people. ²² And you must say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Israel is my son, my firstborn.” ²³ And I said to you, “Release my son and let him serve me,” but you refused to release him. Look, I am about to kill your son, your firstborn.’”

²⁴ And^[ai] on the way, at the place of overnight lodging, Yahweh encountered him and sought to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, and she cut off the foreskin of her son, and she touched his feet, and she said, “Yes, you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” ²⁶ And he left him alone. At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.^[aj]

²⁷ And Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go to the desert to meet Moses.” And he went and encountered him at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸ And Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh, who had sent him—and all the signs that he had commanded him.

²⁹ And Moses and Aaron went, and they gathered all of the elders of the Israelites.^{[ak] 30} And Aaron spoke all the words that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and he did the signs before the eyes of the people. ³¹ And the people believed when they heard that Yahweh had attended to the Israelites^[al] and that he had seen their misery, and they knelt down and they worshiped.