Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³⁰ `When forty years had passed, he was in the wilderness near the hill called Sinai. There he saw fire in a small tree. An angel of the Lord was in the fire.

³¹ Moses looked at it. He was very much surprised. He came closer to look at it better. Then he heard the Lord speak to him.

³² The Lord said, "I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." Moses began to shake. He was afraid to look.

³³ Then the Lord said, "Take off your shoes. You are standing on holy ground.

³⁴ I have looked and seen the trouble my people have in Egypt. I have heard them crying and I have come to make them free. Now come, I will send you to Egypt."

³⁵ `This is the same Moses the people would not accept when they said, "Who made you our ruler and our judge?" This is the one God sent to be their ruler and to make them free when he spoke through the angel in the small tree.

³⁶ It was Moses who led the people out of Egypt. He had done wonderful things and signs there, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, for forty years.

³⁷ `This is the same Moses who said, "God will raise up one of your brothers to be a prophet, as he did me. Listen to him."

³⁸ This is the same Moses who was with God's people in the wilderness at the hill called Mount Sinai. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers of long ago . It was he who received the words of life to give to us.

³⁹ `Our fathers would not obey Moses. They did not want him to lead them. They wished they were back in Egypt.

⁴⁰ They said to Aaron, "Make gods to lead us. We do not know what has happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt."