3:1 Now Moses ¹  was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert ²  and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ³  3:2 The angel of the Lord ⁴  appeared ⁵  to him in ⁶  a flame of fire from within a bush. ⁷  He looked ⁸  – and ⁹  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ¹⁰  3:3 So Moses thought, ¹¹  “I will turn aside to see ¹²  this amazing ¹³  sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” ¹⁴  3:4 When the Lord ¹⁵  saw that ¹⁶  he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” ¹⁷  And Moses ¹⁸  said, “Here I am.” 3:5 God ¹⁹  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²⁰  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ²¹  ground.” ²²  3:6 He added, “I am the God of your father, ²³  the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look ²⁴  at God.

3:7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen ²⁵  the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ²⁶  3:8 I have come down ²⁷  to deliver them ²⁸  from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, ²⁹  to a land flowing with milk and honey, ³⁰  to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ³¹  3:9 And now indeed ³²  the cry ³³  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ³⁴