29. Moses fled when he heard this and settled as an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30. “Forty years later, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush.
31. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look at it, the voice of the Lord came,
32. ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ Then Moses, trembling, did not dare to look at it.
33. But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34. I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’
35. This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’ God sent as [both] ruler and deliverer, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for forty years.
37. It was this Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you, from among your own kinsfolk, a prophet like me.’
38. It was he who, in the assembly in the desert, was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living utterances to hand on to us.
39. “Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,
40. saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will be our leaders. As for that Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
41. So they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.
42. Then God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offeringsfor forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43. No, you took up the tent of Molochand the star of (your) god Rephan,the images that you made to worship.So I shall take you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44. “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the desert just as the One who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.