Exodus 3

1 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. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “ I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?” 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “ Moses, Moses!” “ Here I am,” he answered. 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, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 The LORD said, “ I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. 8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to 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 how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses asked God, “ Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 “ I will surely be with you,” God said, “ and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses asked God, “Suppose 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?” 14 God said to Moses, “ I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also told Moses, “ Say 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, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation. 16 Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘ The LORD, the God of your fathers— the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites — a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 18 The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘ The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you. 21 And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed. 22 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

✦ What the text says

## Summary Exodus 3 narrates Moses' encounter with a fire that burns a bush without consuming it near Horeb, where a divine voice commissions him to free the Israelites from Egypt. The chapter contains the dialogue in which Moses asks for a name to give the people, and the deity answers with the phrase *'Ehyeh 'Asher 'Ehyeh* ("I will be that I will be", H1961), followed by instructions about confronting Pharaoh and the elders. ## Key words - *seneh* ("bush", H5572) — definite masculine singular noun; repeated five times in vv. 2–4, anchoring the scene grammatically as the fixed reference point of the vision. - *'ehyeh* ("I will be/I am", H1961) — qal imperfect, first person; used three times in vv. 12 and 14, expressing an incomplete/ongoing verbal aspect rather than a static "I am." - *nir'ah* ("he appeared", H7200G) — niphal (passive/reflexive) perfect, third person masculine; describes the deity as the subject who "lets himself be seen," contrasting with *yar'ah* (qal, "he saw") used of Moses' own seeing in v. 4. - *qodesh* ("holiness", H6944G) — construct noun in *'admat qodesh* ("ground of holiness", v. 5), forming a genitive chain rather than an adjective+noun structure. - *ra'oh ra'iti* ("certainly to see / I have seen", H7200G) — qal absolute infinitive followed by qal perfect, same root repeated for emphasis in v. 7; the same doubling pattern recurs with *paqod paqadti* ("I have surely observed", H6485I) in v. 16. ## What the text says The narrative frame relies on the *vav*-narrative (waw-consecutive) chain marked repeatedly as H9001, which strings the verbs *yar'* ("he saw"), *yiqra'* ("he called"), *yo'mer* ("he said") into a continuous sequence of action. The divine speech beginning in v. 7 shifts to first-person perfect verbs (*ra'iti* "I have seen", *shama'ti* "I have heard", *yada'ti* "I know") that report completed observation, then pivots to imperfect/cohortative forms (*'ered*, "I have come down" narrative; *'a'aleh*, "I will bring up") describing intended future action. In v. 14 the doubled *'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh* uses the same verb *hayah* ("to be", H1961) in its imperfect form both as main and relative-clause verb, a repetition that the Hebrew grammar allows without further modification — the imperfect aspect keeps the sense open rather than fixing a single tense. ## Differences between versions In v. 14, the LXX renders *'Ehyeh 'Asher '

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.