HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 424
EX O D U S 4
closer look, God called to him from the middle
of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am!” Moses replied.
5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned.
“Take off your sandals, for you are standing on
holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father*—the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered
his face because he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly
seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.
I have heard their cries of distress because of
their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of
their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and
lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile
and spacious land. It is a land flowing with
milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and
Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people
of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how
harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go,
for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead
my people Israel out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to
appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the
people of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 God answered, “I will be with you. And this
is your sign that I am the one who has sent you:
When you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you will worship God at this very mountain.”
13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people
of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What
is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”
14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.* Say
this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to
you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the
people of Israel: Yahweh,* 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 eternal name,
my name to remember for all generations.
16 “Now go and call together all the elders of
Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—
has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been
watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians
are treating you. 17 I have promised to rescue you
from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to
a land flowing with milk and honey—the land
where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.”’
18 “The elders of Israel will accept your message. Then you and the elders must go to the
king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God
of the Hebrews, has met with us. So please let us
take a three-day journey into the wilderness to
offer sacrifices to the Lord, our God.’
19 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not
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let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.*
20 So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among
them. Then at last he will let you go. 21 And I
will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on
you. They will give you gifts when you go so you
will not leave empty-handed. 22 Every Israelite
woman will ask for articles of silver and gold
and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors
and from the foreign women in their houses.
You will dress your sons and daughters with
these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”
Signs of the LORD’s Power
But Moses protested again, “What if they
won’t believe me or listen to me? What if
they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in
your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord
told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it
turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and
grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed
it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in
his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him.
“Then they will believe that the Lord, the God
of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has
appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your
hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand
inside his cloak, and when he took it out again,
his hand was white as snow with a severe skin
disease.* 7 “Now put your hand back into your
cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand
back in, and when he took it out again, it was
as healthy as the rest of his body.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not
believe you and are not convinced by the first
miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the
second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you or
listen to you even after these two signs, then
take some water from the Nile River and pour it
out on the dry ground. When you do, the water
from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”
10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord,
I’m not very good with words. I never have
been, and I’m not now, even though you have
spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words
get tangled.”
11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a
person’s mouth? Who decides whether people
4
3:6 Greek version reads your fathers. 3:14 Or I Will Be What
I Will Be. 3:15 Yahweh (also in 3:16) is a transliteration of
the proper name YHWH that is sometimes rendered “Jehovah”;
in this translation it is usually rendered “the Lord” (note the
use of small capitals). 3:19 As in Greek and Latin versions;
Hebrew reads will not let you go, not by a mighty hand. 4:6 Or
with leprosy. The Hebrew word used here can describe various
skin diseases.