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when Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this amazing spectacle. Why is it that the bush doesn’t burn up?”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
And Moses answered, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I know their sufferings. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 And behold, now the cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 God answered, “I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
13 But Moses said to God, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’, and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’.”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’. This is My name forever, the name I am to be remembered by from generation to generation.
16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me and said: “I have watched over you and seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised you that I will bring you up from out of your misery in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey” ’.
18 “The elders of Israel will listen to what you say. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness, so we may offer sacrifices to the Lord our God’. 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, unless he is compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders that I will perform in it. After that, he will let you go.
21 “And I will give this people such favour in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbour and any woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and gold, and clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”