Exodus 3:1–10

¹Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,^a the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,^b the mountain of God. ²There the angel^c of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. ³So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”^{d 6}Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”^e

At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey— the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”^f