Exodus 3:1-12

New International Version

1. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within the bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight–why the bush does not burn up.” 4. When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses ! Moses !” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5. “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, 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, because he was afraid to look at God. 7. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with mild and honey–the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached 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. And God said, “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.”