The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;What is that in your hand?&#8221; He said, &#8220;A staff.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">God spoke<n id="1" /> to Moses and said to him, &#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Moses&#8217; father-in-law said to him, &#8220;What<n id="1" /> you are doing is not good!

<p class="bodytext">And Moses<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;If your presence does not go<n id="2" /> with us,<n id="3" /> do not take us up from here.<n id="4" />

But Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke to them.

The angel of the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> appeared<n id="2" /> to him in<n id="3" /> a flame of fire from within a bush.<n id="4" /> He looked<n id="5" /> &#8211; and<n id="6" /> the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!<n id="7" />

When the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> saw that<n id="2" /> he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, &#8220;Moses, Moses!&#8221;<n id="3" /> And Moses<n id="4" /> said, &#8220;Here I am.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth<n id="1" /> and with his mouth,<n id="2" /> and I will teach you both<n id="3" /> what you must do.<n id="4" />

Tell him, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Release my people, that they may serve me<n id="2" /> in the desert!&#8221; But until now<n id="3" /> you have not listened.<n id="4" />

<v id="(7:26)" /><n id="1" /> Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Go to Pharaoh and tell him, &#8216;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>: &#8220;Release my people in order that they may serve me!

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Go to Pharaoh and tell him, &#8216;Thus says the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of the Hebrews, &#8220;Release my people that they may serve me!

<n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">In the future,<n id="2" /> when your son asks you<n id="3" /> &#8216;What is this?&#8217;<n id="4" /> you are to tell him, &#8216;With a mighty hand<n id="5" /> the <sc>Lordsc> brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery.<n id="6" />

<p class="bodytext">Moses<n id="1" /> went up to God, and the <sc>Lordsc> called to him from the mountain, &#8220;Thus you will tell the house of Jacob, and declare to the people<n id="2" /> of Israel:

So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, &#8220;Whoever is for the <sc>Lordsc>, come<n id="1" /> to me.&#8221;<n id="2" /> All the Levites gathered around him,

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone;<n id="1" /> and they were afraid to approach him.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The elders<n id="1" /> will listen<n id="2" /> to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews, has met<n id="3" /> with us. So now, let us go<n id="4" /> three days&#8217; journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice<n id="5" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;Who gave<n id="1" /> a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the <sc>Lordsc>?<n id="2" />

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> said to Moses, &#8220;Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, &#8216;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Release my people that they may serve me!

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said<n id="2" /> to Moses, &#8220;Get up early in the morning, stand<n id="3" /> before Pharaoh, and tell him, &#8216;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews: &#8220;Release my people so that they may serve me!

<p class="bodytext">Moses said to him, &#8220;When I leave the city<n id="1" /> I will spread my hands to the <sc>Lordsc>, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />