Study Desk

by the God of your father who helps you,and by the Almighty who blesses youwith blessings of the heavens above,blessings of the deep that lies below,and blessings of the breasts and the womb.

‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him.

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.”

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.

Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor; and they cried out; and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

And God heard their groaning; and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

and God saw the Israelites; and God knew.

Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

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

He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”

Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.