⁷ Now ^(A)the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^(B)Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, ^(C)from where have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ So the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit ^[a]to her authority.” ¹⁰ The ^(D)angel of the Lord also said to her, “^(E)I will greatly multiply your ^[b]descendants so that ^[c]they will be too many to count.” ¹¹ The angel of the Lord said to her further,

¹⁷ God ^(A)heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “^[a]What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(B)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

¹¹ But ^(A)the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

¹⁵ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, ^(A)God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then He said, “Do not come near here; ^(B)remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And He said, “^(C)I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ^(D)Then Moses hid his face, for he was ^(E)afraid to look at God.

⁷ And the Lord said, “I have certainly ^(F)seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ So I have come down ^(G)to rescue them from the ^[a]power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a ^(H)good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(I)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(J)the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

The Mission of Moses

¹⁰ And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, ^(K)so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “^(L)Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹⁶ Go and ^(A)gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^(B)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “^[a](C)I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

¹³ And ^(A)the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “^(B)The woman shall pay attention ^[a]to all that I said. ¹⁴ She shall not eat anything that comes from the ^(C)vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to ^(D)the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ But the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, ^(E)I will not eat your ^[b]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. ¹⁷ And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “^(F)What is your name, so that when your words ^[c]are fulfilled, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is ^[d](G)wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(H)Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(I)fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^(J)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, ^(A)an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.