Study Desk

But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River.

And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.

But some other shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses jumped up and rescued the girls from the shepherds. Then he drew water for their flocks.

Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God.

But Moses protested to God, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?"

But Moses protested, "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' they will ask me, ‘What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?"

"But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.

But Moses protested again, "What if they won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you'?"

But Moses pleaded with the Lord , "O Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled."

But Moses again pleaded, "Lord, please! Send anyone else."

And the Lord told Moses, "When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

I commanded you, "Let my son go, so he can worship me." But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!'"

But Moses' wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, "Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

But Aaron and Moses persisted. "The God of the Hebrews has met with us," they declared. "So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don't, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword."

But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don't reduce the quota. They are lazy. That's why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God.'

Go and get it yourselves. Find it wherever you can. But you must produce just as many bricks as before!"

"We are given no straw, but the slave drivers still demand, ‘Make bricks!' We are being beaten, but it isn't our fault! Your own people are to blame!"

But Pharaoh shouted, "You're just lazy! Lazy! That's why you're saying, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord .'

Now get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you must still produce the full quota of bricks."

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty'—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.