¹ And Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he directed the flock behind the wilderness, and came to^▵ the mountain of God, to Horeb^*.

² And the angel of Jehovah was seen by him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bramble; and he saw, and behold the bramble burned with fire, and the bramble was not at·​·all eaten·​·up.

³ And Moses said, I will now^◦ turn·​·aside, and see this^◦ great sight, wherefore the bramble is not burnt.

⁴ And Jehovah saw that he turned·​·aside to see, and God called to him from the midst of the bramble, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Behold me!

⁵ And He said, Come· not ·near hither; shake·​·off thy shoes from on thy feet, for the place on which thou^◦ standest, it is holy ground.

⁶ And He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses covered his faces, because he was fearful to look upon God.

⁷ And Jehovah said, Seeing I have seen the affliction of My people, who are in Egypt, and I have heard his cry from before his taskmasters; for I have·​·known his pains;

⁸ and I am come·​·down to rescue them out·​·of the hand of the Egyptians, and to make them come·​·up out·​·of that^◦ land to^▵ a land good and broad, 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.

⁹ And now behold the cry of the sons of Israel has come to^▵ Me, and I have also seen the subjugation with which the Egyptians subjugate them.

¹⁰ And now go, and I will send thee to^▵ Pharaoh, and bring· My people the sons of Israel ·out from Egypt.

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

¹² And He said, For I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign for thee that I^▵ have sent thee; when thou hast brought·​·out the people from Egypt, you shall serve God by^◦ this mountain.

¹³ And Moses said to^▵ God, Behold, I^▵ come to^▵ the sons of Israel, and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to^▵ you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to^▵ them?

¹⁴ And God said to^▵ Moses, I AM WHO is I AM^*; and He said, Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to^▵ you.

¹⁵ And God said further to Moses, Thus shalt thou say to^▵ the sons of Israel, Jehovah, 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 to eternity, and this is My memorial to generation and generation.

¹⁶ Go and gather· the elders of Israel ·together, and say to^▵ them, Jehovah the God of your fathers has appeared to^▵ me, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, saying, Visiting I have visited you, and visited that which was done to you in Egypt.

¹⁷ And I say, I will make you come 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.

¹⁸ And they shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shalt go·​·in, thou^◦ and the elders of Israel, to^▵ the king of Egypt; and you shall say to^▵ him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has come^* upon us; and now let us go, we pray^◦ thee, a way of three days into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.

¹⁹ And I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, and not by a firm hand.

²⁰ And I will put·​·forth^◦ My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do among them, and afterward he will send· you ·out.

²¹ And I will give this people grace in the eyes of Egypt; and it shall be that when^◦ you go, you shall not go empty.

²² And a woman shall ask from her companion, and from her that sojourns in her house, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment; and you shall place them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and you shall spoil^◦ the Egyptians.

¹ A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

² The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³ When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

⁴ His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

⁵ Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.

⁶ She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"

⁸ Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.

⁹ Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

¹⁰ The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

¹¹ It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

¹² He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³ He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"

¹⁴ He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

¹⁵ Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷ The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸ When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"

¹⁹ They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."

²⁰ He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

²¹ Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

²² She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."

²³ It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

²⁴ God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵ God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.