18. At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt.
19. He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die.
20. It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months,
21. and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
22. He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
23. “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow-Israelites were being treated.
24. He saw one of them being ill-treated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him.
25. (He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)
26. The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow-Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’
27. But the one who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked.
28. ‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’
29. When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30. “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
31. Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:
32. ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look.
33. The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34. I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’
35. “Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.
36. He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.