Moses and the Burning Bush

(Exodus 3: 1-8, 10-14, NAB)

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”

When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

“I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. But the Lord said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?”

He answered, “I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.”

“But,” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”

God replied, “I am who I am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.”

From The New American Bible [NAB] (Word Publishing, Inc.: 1987)