23. "When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people.
24. He saw one of them being treated badly by a man of Egypt. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man.
25. Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to save them. But they didn't.
26. "The next day Moses saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to make peace between them. 'Men, you are both of Israel,' he said. 'Why do you want to hurt each other?'
27. "But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?
28. Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' (Exodus 2:14)
29. When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as a stranger. He became the father of two sons there.
30. "Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai.
31. When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord's voice.
32. 'I am the God of your fathers,' the Lord said. 'I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' (Exodus 3:6) Moses shook with fear. He didn't dare to look.
33. "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.
34. I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.' (Exodus 3:5,7,8,10)
35. "This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.
36. So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.
37. "This is the same Moses who spoke to the people of Israel. 'God will send you a prophet,' he said. 'He will be like me. He will come from your own people.' (Deuteronomy 18:15)
38. Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.