Exodus

Moses’ Vocation

Moses cared for the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day, he took the flock to the far side of the desert and reached Horeb, the Mountain of God.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him through a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that even though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.

Moses thought:
“I will go and see this amazing sight; why is the bush not burning up?”

The LORD saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush:
“Moses! Moses!”
He replied:
“Here I am.”

The Lord said to him:

“Do not come near; take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

And God continued:

“I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face lest his eyes look on God.

The Lord said:

I have seen the humiliation of my people in Egypt, and I hear their cry as their taskmasters cruelly treat them. I know their suffering.

I have come down to free them from Egyptian control and to bring them out of that land into a beautiful, spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

The cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

Now go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

Moses said to God:

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

God replied:

“I will be with you, and this will be the sign I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses answered God:

“If I go to the Israelites and say to them: ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ they will ask me: ‘What is his name?’ What shall I answer them?”

God said to Moses:

“I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM sent me to you.”

God then said to Moses:

“You will tell the Israelites: ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me.’ That will be my name forever, and by this name, they will call upon me for all generations to come.

Go! Gather the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me and said: I have seen and taken note of how the Egyptians have treated you,

and I plan to bring you out of all this oppression in Egypt and lead you to the land of the Canaanites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

The elders of Israel will listen to you, and you will go to the king of Egypt’s palace with them 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 to sacrifice to the Lord, our God.’

I know the Egyptian king will not let you go unless he is forced.

I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt in extraordinary ways, after which he will let you go.

And I will cause the Egyptians to treat my people well when you leave; you will not go empty-handed.

Each woman will ask her neighbor and any Egyptian woman staying in her house to lend her silver and gold ornaments and clothing. With these, you will dress your sons and daughters, and in this way, you will plunder the Egyptians.”