Moses and the Burning Bush
1Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. Jethro was the priest of Midian. Moses led the flock to the western side of the desert. He came to Horeb. It was the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the Lord appeared to him from inside a burning bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire. But it didn’t burn up. 3So Moses thought, “I’ll go over and see this strange sight. Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”
4The Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look. So God spoke to him from inside the bush. He called out, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am,” Moses said.
5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.” 6He continued, “I am the God of your father. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard that, he turned his face away. He was afraid to look at God.
7The Lord said, “I have seen how my people are suffering in Egypt. I have heard them cry out because of their slave drivers. I am concerned about their suffering. 8So I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them up out of that land. I will bring them into a good land. It has a lot of room. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites live there. 9And now Israel’s cry for help has reached me. I have seen how badly the Egyptians are treating them. 10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh. I want you to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. They are my people.”
11But Moses spoke to God. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” he said. “Who am I that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12God said, “I will be with you. I will give you a sign. It will prove that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship me on this mountain.”
13Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the people of Israel. Suppose I say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And suppose they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”
14God said to Moses, “I am who I am. Here is what you must say to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
15God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord is the God of your fathers. He has sent me to you. He is the God of Abraham. He is the God of Isaac. And he is the God of Jacob.’ My name will always be The Lord. Call me this name for all time to come.
16“Go. Gather the elders of Israel together. Say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to me. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God said, “I have watched over you. I have seen what the Egyptians have done to you. 17I have promised to bring you up out of Egypt where you are suffering. I will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” ’
18“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders must go to the king of Egypt. You must say to him, ‘The Lord has met with us. He is the God of the Hebrews. Let us take a journey that lasts about three days. We want to go into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you and your people go. Only a mighty hand could make him do that. 20So I will reach out my hand. I will strike the Egyptians with all the amazing things I will do. After that, their king will let you go.
21“I will cause the Egyptians to treat you in a kind way. Then when you leave, you will not go with your hands empty. 22Every woman should ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for things made out of silver and gold. Ask them for clothes too. Put them on your children. In that way, you will take the wealth of Egypt along with you.”
ሙሴና የሚንበለበለው ቍጥቋጦ
1አንድ ቀን ሙሴ የምድያም ካህን የሆነውን የአማቱን የዮቶር በጎችና ፍየሎች እየጠበቀ ሳለ፣ መንጋውን እየነዳ ወደ ምድረ በዳው ዳርቻ አምርቶ የእግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ተራራ ተብሎ ወደሚጠራው ወደ ኮሬብ ቀረበ።
2እዚያም የእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) መልአክ በቍጥቋጦው ውስጥ በሚንቀለቀል የእሳት ነበልባል መካከል ተገለጠለት። ሙሴም ቍጥቋጦው በእሳት ቢያያዝም እንኳ፣ አለ መቃጠሉን አየ። 3ሙሴም፣ “ቍጥቋጦው ለምን እንደማይቃጠል ቀረብ ብዬ ይህን አስገራሚ ነገር ልመልከት” አለ።
4ሙሴ ሁኔታውን ለመመልከት መቅረቡን እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ባየ ጊዜ፣ ከቍጥቋጦው ውስጥ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) “ሙሴ፣ ሙሴ” ብሎ ጠራው፤ ሙሴም “አቤት እነሆኝ” አለው። 5እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም)፣ “ወደዚህ እንዳትቀርብ፤ ይህች የቆምህባት ምድር የተቀደሰች ስለሆነች ጫማህን አውልቅ” አለው። 6ቀጥሎም፣ “እኔ የአባቶችህ የአብርሃም፣ የይስሐቅ፣ የያዕቆብ አምላክ (ኤሎሂም) ነኝ” አለው። በዚህ ጊዜ ሙሴ እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም) ፊት ለፊት ማየት ስለ ፈራ ፊቱን ሸፈነ።
7ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንዲህ አለ፣ “በግብፅ አገር የሚኖሩትን የሕዝቤን መከራ አይቻለሁ፤ ከአሠሪዎቻቸው ጭካኔ የተነሣ የሚያሰሙትንም ጩኸት ሰምቻለሁ፤ ሥቃያቸውንም ተረድቼአለሁ። 8ስለዚህም ከግብፃውያን እጅ ልታደጋቸውና ማርና ወተት ወደምታፈስሰው ሰፊና ለም ወደሆነችው ወደ ከነዓናውያን፣ ኬጢያውያን፣ አሞራውያን፣ ፌርዛውያን፣ ኤዊያውያንና ኢያቡሳውያን ምድር ላወጣቸው ወርጃለሁ። 9አሁንም የእስራኤል ልጆች ጩኸት ወደ እኔ ደርሷል፤ ግብፃውያን የሚያደርሱባቸውን ግፍ አይቻለሁ። 10በል እንግዲህ ና፤ ሕዝቤን፣ የእስራኤልን ልጆች ከግብፅ ምድር እንድታወጣቸው ወደ ፈርዖን እልክሃለሁ”።
11ሙሴ እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም)፣ “ወደ ፈርዖን የምሄድና የእስራኤልን ልጆች ከግብፅ የማወጣ እኔ ማን ነኝ?” አለው።
12እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም)፣ “እኔ ከአንተ ጋር እሆናለሁ፤ እኔ የላክሁህ ለመሆኑ ምልክቱ ይህ ነው፤ ሕዝቡን ከግብፅ ካወጣሃቸው በኋላ በዚህ ተራራ ላይ እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም) ታመልካላችሁ” አለው።
13ሙሴም እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም)፣ “ወደ እስራኤል ልጆች ሄጄ፣ ‘የአባቶቻችሁ አምላክ ወደ እናንተ ልኮኛል’ ስላቸው ‘ስሙ ማን ነው?’ ብለው ቢጠይቁኝ ምን እላቸዋለሁ?” አለው።
14እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም) ሙሴን፣ “እኔ፣ ያለሁና የምኖር ነኝ3፥14 ወይም እኔ የምሆነው እኔኑ ነው ማለት ሊሆን ይችላል። (ያህዌ)፤ ስለዚህም፣ ‘ያለና የሚኖር ልኮኛል’ ብለህ ንገራቸው” አለው።
15ደግሞም እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ሙሴን፣ “የአባቶቻችሁ የአብርሃም አምላክ፣ የይስሐቅ አምላክ፣ የያዕቆብ አምላክ የሆነው እግዚአብሔር3፥15 በዕብራይስጥ እግዚአብሔር የሚለው ቃል ድምፅ በ14 ላይ፣ እኔ ነኝ ከሚለው ሐረግ ጋር ተመሳሳይ ድምፅ አለው። ያህዌ የሚለውም የቃል ውልደት እኔ ነኝ ከሚለው ሐረግ ነው። (ያህዌ) ወደ እናንተ ልኮኛል፤ ስሜም ለዘለዓለም ይኸው ነው፤ ወደ ፊት በተከታታይ በሚነሣው ትውልድ ሁሉ የምታሰበው በዚህ ስም ነው ብለህ ለእስራኤል ልጆች ንገራቸው” አለው።
16“ሂድና የእስራኤልን አለቆች ሰብስበህ፣ የአባቶቻችሁ የአብርሃም፣ የይስሐቅና የያዕቆብ አምላክ የሆነው እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ተገለጠልኝና እንዲህ አለኝ፤ ጐብኝቻችኋለሁ፤ በግብፅ የደረሰባችሁንም አይቻለሁ። 17ስለዚህም በግብፅ ከምትቀበሉት መከራ አውጥቼ ማርና ወተት ወደምታፈስሰው ወደ ከነዓናውያን፣ ወደ ኬጢያውያን፣ ወደ አሞራውያን፣ ወደ ፌርዛውያን፣ ወደ ኤዊያውያንና ኢያቡሳውያን ምድር አገባችኋለሁ ብሏል ብለህ ንገራቸው” አለኝ።
18“የእስራኤል አለቆችም ይሰሙሃል። አንተና የእስራኤል አለቆች ወደ ግብፅ ንጉሥ ትሄዱና፣ ‘የዕብራውያን አምላክ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ተገለጠልን፤ ስለዚህም ወደ ምድረ በዳ የሦስት ቀን መንገድ ተጕዘን ለአምላካችን ለእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) መሥዋዕት እንድናቀርብ ፍቀድልን’ ብላችሁ ትነግሩታላችሁ። 19የግብፅ ንጉሥ ግን በኀያል ክንድ ካልተገደደ በስተቀር መቼም እንደማይለቅቃችሁ ዐውቃለሁ። 20ስለዚህ እኔ እጅግ ድንቅ የሆኑ ታምራትን እዚያው እመካከላቸው በማድረግ ክንዴን ዘርግቼ ግብፃውያንን እመታቸዋለሁ፤ ከዚያም በኋላ እንድትሄዱ ይለቃችኋል።
21“ይህ ሕዝብ በግብፃውያን ዘንድ የመወደድን ጸጋ እንዲያገኝ ስለማደርግ በምትወጡበት ጊዜ ባዶ እጃችሁን አትሄዱም። 22እያንዳንዷ ዕብራዊት ከጎረቤቷም ይሁን አብራት ከምትኖረው ግብፃዊት የብርና የወርቅ ጌጣጌጦች እንደዚሁም ልብስ እንድትሰጣት ትጠይቅ። እነዚህንም ሁሉ ወስዳችሁ ወንዶችና ሴቶች ልጆቻችሁን ታስጌጧቸዋላችሁ፤ ታለብሷቸዋላችሁም። በዚህም መንገድ የግብፃውያኑን ሀብት በእጃችሁ አግብታችሁ ትወጣላችሁ።”
