1 When Moses kept the sheepe of Iethro his father in lawe, Priest of Midian, and droue the flocke to the backe side of the desert, and came to the Mountaine of God, Horeb, 2 Then the Angel of the Lord appeared vnto him in a flame of fire, out of the middes of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 Therefore Moses saide, I will turne aside nowe, and see this great sight, why the bush burneth not. 4 And when the Lord sawe that he turned aside to see, God called vnto him out of the middes of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he answered, I am here. 5 Then he saide, Come not hither, put thy shooes off thy feete: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreouer he saide, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Iaakob. Then Moses hid his face: for he was afraid to looke vpon God. 7 Then the Lord said, I haue surely seene the trouble of my people, which are in Egypt, and haue heard their crie, because of their taskemasters: for I knowe their sorowes. 8 Therefore I am come downe to deliuer them out of the hande of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that lande into a good lande and a large, into a lande that floweth with milke and honie, euen into the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hiuites, and the Iebusites. 9 And now lo, the crie of the children of Israel is come vnto me, and I haue also seene ye oppression, wherewith the Egyptians oppresse them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee vnto Pharaoh, that thou maiest bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 But Moses said vnto God, Who am I, that I should go vnto Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he answered, Certainely I will be with thee: and this shall be a token vnto thee, that I haue sent thee, After that thou hast brought the people out of Egypt, ye shall serue God vpon this Mountaine. 13 Then Moses said vnto God, Behold, when I shall come vnto the children of Israel, and shall say vnto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me vnto you: if they say vnto me, What is his Name? what shall I say vnto them? 14 And God answered Moses, I Am That I Am. Also he said, Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me vnto you. 15 And God spake further vnto Moses, Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Iaakob hath sent me vnto you: this is my Name for euer, and this is my memoriall vnto all ages. 16 Go and gather the Elders of Israel together, and thou shalt say vnto the, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob appeared vnto me, and said, I haue surely remembred you, and that which is done to you in Egypt. 17 Therefore I did say, I wil bring you out of the affliction of Egypt vnto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, vnto a lande that floweth with milke and honie. 18 Then shall they obey thy voyce, and thou and the Elders of Israel shall go vnto the King of Egypt, and say vnto him, The Lord God of the Ebrewes hath met with vs: we pray thee nowe therefore, let vs goe three dayes iourney in the wildernesse, that we may sacrifice vnto the Lord our God. 19 But I know, that the King of Egypt wil not let you goe, but by strong hande. 20 Therefore will I stretch out mine hande and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will doe in the middes thereof: and after that shall he let you goe. 21 And I will make this people to be fauoured of the Egyptians: so that when ye go, ye shall not goe emptie. 22 For euery woman shall aske of her neighbour, and of her that soiourneth in her house, iewels of siluer and iewels of gold and raiment, and ye shall put them on your sonnes, and on your daughters, and shall spoyle the Egyptians.
Exodus 3 Geneva Bible (1599)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Original 16th-century spelling.
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
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)