I Am Who I Am
Exodus 3:1-15 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his
father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the
far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire
from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on
fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and
see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called
to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses
said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said.
“Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing
is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at
God. 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my
people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their
slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I
have come down to rescue them from the hand of the
Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good
and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the
home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites
and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached
me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing
them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my
people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God,
“Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you.
And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: