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Birth and Youth of Moses
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.
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When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
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Moses Flees to Midian
One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
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He answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
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When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian and sat down by a well.
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But some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their defense and watered their flock.
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Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage.
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Moses at the Burning Bush
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.
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Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.”
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When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
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He said further, “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, for he was afraid to look at God.
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But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
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The Divine Name Revealed
But Moses said to God, “If I come 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 shall I say to them?”
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God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
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God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say 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, and this my title for all generations.
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Moses’s Miraculous Power
Then Moses answered, “But look, they may not believe me or listen to me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ”
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And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses drew back from it.
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Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and seize it by the tail”—so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand—
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But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
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Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad.
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Moses Returns to Egypt
Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my own people in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
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The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who were seeking your life are dead.”
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So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt, and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.
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And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
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The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went, and he met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.