Study Desk

Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed.

"So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

"And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

And He said, "Assuredly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

"So I said, I will bring you up out of the oppression of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

"Then they will pay attention to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'

"So I will reach out with My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.

But the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand and grasp it by its tail"—so he reached out with his hand and caught it, and it turned into a staff in his hand—

"Now then go, and I Myself will be with your mouth, and instruct you in what you are to say."

"So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I Myself will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will instruct you in what you are to do.

"And you shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."

Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which He had sent him, and all the signs that He had commanded him to do.

Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will strike us with plague or with the sword."

Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you deal this way with your servants?

"I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as strangers.

"Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.

Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

'This is what the LORD says: "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.

But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this.