Exodus 3-4

Living Bible

3 One day as Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,^[a] the priest of Midian, out at the edge of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, ² suddenly the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him as a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw that the bush was on fire and that it didn’t burn up, ^3-4 he went over to investigate. Then God called out to him, “Moses! Moses!”

“Who is it?” Moses asked.

⁵ “Don’t come any closer,” God told him. “Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground. ⁶ I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Moses covered his face with his hands, for he was afraid to look at God.)

⁷ Then the Lord told him, “I have seen the deep sorrows of my people in Egypt and have heard their pleas for freedom from their harsh taskmasters. ⁸ I have come to deliver them from the Egyptians and to take them out of Egypt into a good land, a large land, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. ⁹ Yes, the wail of the people of Israel has risen to me in heaven, and I have seen the heavy tasks the Egyptians have oppressed them with. ¹⁰ Now I am going to send you to Pharaoh, to demand that he let you lead my people out of Egypt.”

¹¹ “But I’m not the person for a job like that!” Moses exclaimed.

¹² Then God told him, “I will certainly be with you, and this is the proof that I am the one who is sending you: When you have led the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God here upon this mountain!”

¹³ But Moses asked, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them that their fathers’ God has sent me, they will ask, ‘Which God are you talking about?’ What shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ “‘The Sovereign God,’”^[b] was the reply. “Just say, ‘I Am has sent me!’ ¹⁵ Yes, tell them, ‘Jehovah,^[c] the God of your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me to you.’ (This is my eternal name, to be used throughout all generations.)

¹⁶ “Call together all the elders of Israel,” God instructed him, “and tell them about Jehovah appearing to you here in this burning bush and that he said to you, ‘I have visited my people and have seen what is happening to them there in Egypt. ¹⁷ I promise to rescue them from the drudgery and humiliation they are undergoing, and to take them to the land now occupied by the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, a land “flowing with milk and honey.’” ¹⁸ The elders of the people of Israel will accept your message. They must go with you to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us and instructed us to go three days’ journey into the desert to sacrifice to him. Give us your permission.’

¹⁹ “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go except under heavy pressure. ²⁰ So I will give him all the pressure he needs! I will destroy Egypt with my miracles, and then at last he will let you go. ²¹ And I will see to it that the Egyptians load you down with gifts when you leave, so that you will by no means go out empty-handed! ²² Every woman will ask for jewels, silver, gold, and the finest of clothes from her Egyptian master’s wife and neighbors. You will clothe your sons and daughters with the best of Egypt!”

4 But Moses said, “They won’t believe me! They won’t do what I tell them to. They’ll say, ‘Jehovah never appeared to you!’”

² “What do you have there in your hand?” the Lord asked him.

And he replied, “A shepherd’s rod.”

³ “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So he threw it down—and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it!

⁴ Then the Lord told him, “Grab it by the tail!” He did, and it became a rod in his hand again!

⁵ “Do that and they will believe you!” the Lord told him. “Then they will realize that Jehovah, the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has really appeared to you. ⁶ Now reach your hand inside your robe, next to your chest.” And when he did, and took it out again, it was white with leprosy! ⁷ “Now put it in again,” Jehovah said. And when he did, and took it out again, it was normal, just as before!

⁸ “If they don’t believe the first miracle, they will the second,” the Lord said, ⁹ “and if they don’t accept you after these two signs, then take water from the Nile River and pour it upon the dry land, and it will turn to blood.”

¹⁰ But Moses pleaded, “O Lord, I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I’m not now, even after you have spoken to me, for I have a speech impediment.”^[d]

¹¹ “Who makes mouths?” Jehovah asked him. “Isn’t it I, the Lord? Who makes a man so that he can speak or not speak, see or not see, hear or not hear? ¹² Now go ahead and do as I tell you, for I will help you to speak well, and I will tell you what to say.”

¹³ But Moses said, “Lord, please! Send someone else.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord became angry. “All right,” he said, “your brother, Aaron,^[e] is a good speaker. And he is coming here to look for you and will be very happy when he finds you. ¹⁵ So I will tell you what to tell him, and I will help both of you to speak well, and I will tell you what to do. ¹⁶ He will be your spokesman to the people. And you will be as God to him, telling him what to say. ¹⁷ And be sure to take your rod along so that you can perform the miracles I have shown you.”

¹⁸ Moses returned home and talked it over with Jethro, his father-in-law. “With your permission,” Moses said, “I will go back to Egypt and visit my relatives. I don’t even know whether they are still alive.”

“Go with my blessing,” Jethro replied.

¹⁹ Before Moses left Midian, Jehovah said to him, “Don’t be afraid to return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt, holding tightly to the “rod of God”!

²¹ Jehovah told him, “When you arrive back in Egypt you are to go to Pharaoh and do the miracles I have shown you, but I will make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you are to tell him, ‘Jehovah says, “Israel is my eldest son, ²³ and I have commanded you to let him go away and worship me, but you have refused: and now see, I will slay your eldest son.”’”

²⁴ As Moses and his family were traveling along and had stopped for the night, Jehovah appeared to Moses and threatened to kill him. ^25-26 Then Zipporah his wife took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her young son’s penis, and threw it against Moses’ feet, remarking disgustedly, “What a blood-smeared husband you’ve turned out to be!”

Then God left him alone.

²⁷ Now Jehovah said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron traveled to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, and met Moses there, and they greeted each other warmly. ²⁸ Moses told Aaron what God had said they must do, and what they were to say, and told him about the miracles they must do before Pharaoh.

²⁹ So Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and summoned the elders of the people of Israel to a council meeting. ³⁰ Aaron told them what Jehovah had said to Moses, and Moses performed the miracles as they watched. ³¹ Then the elders believed that God had sent them, and when they heard that Jehovah had visited them and had seen their sorrows, and had decided to rescue them, they all rejoiced and bowed their heads and worshiped.