1 Now Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he took the flock to the back of the waste land and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord was seen by him in a flame of fire coming out of a thorn-tree: and he saw that the tree was on fire, but it was not burned up. 3 And Moses said, I will go and see this strange thing, why the tree is not burned up, 4 And when the Lord saw him turning to one side to see, God said his name out of the tree, crying, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Do not come near: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. 6 And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God. 7 And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows; 8 And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 9 For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behaviour of the Egyptians to them. 10 Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Truly I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain. 13 And Moses said to God, When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you: and they say to me, What is his name? what am I to say to them? 14 And God said to him, I AM WHAT I AM: and he said, Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. 15 And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my sign to all generations. 16 Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause, because of what is done to you in Egypt; 17 And I have said, I will take you up out of the sorrows of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, into a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God. 19 And I am certain that the king of Egypt will not let you go without being forced. 20 But I will put out my hand and overcome Egypt with all the wonders which I will do among them: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go out you will go out with your hands full. 22 For every woman will get from her neighbour and from the woman living in her house, ornaments of silver and gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and your daughters; you will take the best of their goods from the Egyptians.
Exodus · Bible in Basic English
Exodus 3 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Jethro
The priest of Midian, also called Reuel, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses, brought her and her two sons to Moses at the mountain of God, and advised him to appoint capable…
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2:18; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:1
Places
Mount Sinai
The location is strongly debated — traditional Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula is only one of several proposals (approximate location). It is where the Law was given.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 19:20; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 24:12
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Kings 19:8; Psalm 78:70–72; Exodus 17:6; Numbers 10:29; Judges 4:11
- 2 Acts 7:30–35; Isaiah 43:2; Deuteronomy 33:16; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37
- 3 Acts 7:31; Psalm 107:8; Job 37:14; Psalm 111:2–4
- 4 Deuteronomy 33:16; Genesis 22:11; Genesis 46:2; 1 Samuel 3:6; 1 Samuel 3:4
- 5 Joshua 5:15; Acts 7:33; Exodus 19:12; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Hebrews 12:20
- 6 Luke 20:37; Matthew 22:32; Exodus 4:5; Mark 12:26; Acts 7:32
- 7 Psalm 145:19; Psalm 106:44; Exodus 2:23–25; Psalm 34:6; Exodus 22:23
- 8 Genesis 50:24; Genesis 15:18–21; Exodus 3:17; Exodus 13:5; Deuteronomy 1:25
- 9 Proverbs 22:22–23; Exodus 2:23; Exodus 1:11; Exodus 1:13–14; Exodus 3:7
- 10 Micah 6:4; Isaiah 63:11–12; 1 Samuel 12:6; Psalm 105:26; Acts 7:34
- 11 1 Samuel 18:18; Exodus 6:12; 2 Corinthians 3:5; Jeremiah 1:6; 2 Corinthians 2:16
- 12 Joshua 1:5; Romans 8:31; Isaiah 41:10; Deuteronomy 31:23; Genesis 31:3
- 13 Proverbs 30:4; Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:21; Isaiah 7:14; Exodus 3:14
- 14 John 8:58; Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 1:8; Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 44:6
- 15 Genesis 17:7–8; Hebrews 13:8; Hosea 12:5; Malachi 3:6; Micah 4:5
- 16 Psalm 8:4; Exodus 4:31; Exodus 4:29; Genesis 50:24; Acts 15:14
- 17 Genesis 15:13–21; Exodus 3:8–9; Genesis 50:24; Exodus 2:23–25; Genesis 46:4
- 18 Exodus 9:1; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 10:24–26; Exodus 9:13; Numbers 23:15–16
- 19 Exodus 5:2; Exodus 6:1; Psalm 136:11–12; Exodus 7:1–14; Isaiah 63:12–13
- 20 Acts 7:36; Nehemiah 9:10; Deuteronomy 6:22; Exodus 9:15; Exodus 6:6
- 21 Exodus 12:36; Exodus 11:3; Psalm 105:37; Proverbs 16:7; Psalm 106:46
- 22 Ezekiel 39:10; Exodus 11:2; Psalm 105:37; Exodus 12:35–36; Genesis 15:14
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… spake to Moses, in a flame of fire out of the bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of thy fathers; go down into Egypt, and bring forth My people." And if you wish to learn what follows, you can do so from the same …
And thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who is, hath sent me unto you;" and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who makes those that believe in His name the sons of God.
… what was the name of that God who was commanding him to go and deliver the Hebrew people out of Egypt, this answer was given: "I am who am; and thou shalt say to the children of Israel, He who is sent me unto you;" as though compared with Him that truly is, because He is unchangeable, those things which …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
We worship, therefore, as the Father of Christ, the Maker of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to whose honour the former temple also, over against us here, was built.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… of His Essence; and of these especially He Who Is, not only because when He spake to Moses in the mount, and Moses asked what His Name was, this was what He called Himself, bidding him say to the people "I Am hath sent me," but also because we find that this Name is the more strictly appropriate.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)