Exodus 3

¹Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock behind the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.

²And the messenger of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush; and he saw, and look — the bush was burning in the fire, but the bush was not consumed.

³And Moses said, Let me turn aside now and see this great sight — why the bush is not burning.

⁴And the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see; and God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here I am.

⁵And he said: Do not draw near here; remove your sandals from upon your feet, for the place on which you are standing — it is holy ground.

⁶And he said, 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.

⁷And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their oppressors, for I know their pain.

⁸And I have come down to rescue him from the hand of Egypt and to bring him up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey — to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

⁹And now, look — the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which Egypt is oppressing them.

¹⁰And now, go — and I will send you to Pharaoh, and bring out my people, the children of Israel, from Egypt.

¹¹Moses said to God: Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt?

¹²And he said: Indeed I will be with you, and this is the sign for you that I myself have sent you: when you bring out the people from Egypt, you shall serve God at this mountain.

¹³Moses said to God: Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel and I will say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you — and they will say to me: What is his name? What shall I say to them?

¹⁴And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.’

¹⁵God said furthermore to Moses: Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 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, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.

¹⁶Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them: YHWH, the God of the fathers of you all, has appeared to me — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — saying: I have indeed attended to you all, and to what has been done to you all in Egypt.

¹⁷And I said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁸And they will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go, please, a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHWH our God.

¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go — not by a strong hand.

²⁰And I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do in its midst; and after that he will send you out.

²¹And I will give this people favor in the eyes of Egypt; and it will come to pass that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.

²²But each woman shall ask of her neighbor and of the woman dwelling in her house articles of silver and articles of gold and garments; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, and you shall plunder Egypt.