Showing Up

Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.”

Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”

(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.”

(13) Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing at Shechem. Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “I am ready.”

(2) God called to Israel in a vision by night: “Jacob! Jacob!” He answered, “Here.”

Then, when you call, the LORD will answer; When you cry, He will say: Here I am. If you banish the yoke from your midst, The menacing hand, and evil speech,

(1) Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.(2) An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed.(3) Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?”(4) When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.”(5) And He said, “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.(6) I am,” He said, “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.(7) And the LORD continued, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings.(8) I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.(9) Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.(10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.”(11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?”(12) And He said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”(13) Moses said to God, “When I come 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 shall I say to them?”(14) And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” He continued, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘Ehyeh sent me to you.’”(15) And God said further to Moses, “Thus shall you speak 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 shall be My name forever, This My appellation for all eternity.(16) “Go and 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 taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt,(17) and I have declared: I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’(18) They will listen to you; then you shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, manifested Himself to us. Now therefore, let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God.’(19) Yet I know that the king of Egypt will let you go only because of a greater might.(20) So I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt with various wonders which I will work upon them; after that he shall let you go.(21) And I will dispose the Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you will not go away empty-handed.(22) Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and gold, and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.”

(1) On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai.(2) Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain,(3) and Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel:(4) ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.(5) Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine,(6) but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.”(7) Moses came and summoned the elders of the people and put before them all that the LORD had commanded him.(8) All the people answered as one, saying, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the people’s words to the LORD.(9) And the LORD said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.” Then Moses reported the people’s words to the LORD,(10) and the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and warn them to stay pure today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothes.(11) Let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down, in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.(12) You shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Beware of going up the mountain or touching the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death:(13) no hand shall touch him, but he shall be either stoned or shot; beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain.”(14) Moses came down from the mountain to the people and warned the people to stay pure, and they washed their clothes.(15) And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day: do not go near a woman.”(16) On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.(17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.(18) Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the LORD had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently.(19) The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder.(20) The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.(21) The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people not to break through to the LORD to gaze, lest many of them perish.(22) The priests also, who come near the LORD, must stay pure, lest the LORD break out against them.”(23) But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.’”(24) So the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come back together with Aaron; but let not the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.”(25) And Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

(1) There was a great outcry by the common folk and their wives against their brother Jews.(2) Some said, “Our sons and daughters are numerous; we must get grain to eat in order that we may live!”(3) Others said, “We must pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our homes to get grain to stave off hunger.”(4) Yet others said, “We have borrowed money against our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s tax.(5) Now we are as good as our brothers, and our children as good as theirs; yet here we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery—some of our daughters are already subjected—and we are powerless, while our fields and vineyards belong to others.”(6) It angered me very much to hear their outcry and these complaints.(7) After pondering the matter carefully, I censured the nobles and the prefects, saying, “Are you pressing claims on loans made to your brothers?” Then I raised a large crowd against them(8) and said to them, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; will you now sell your brothers so that they must be sold [back] to us?” They kept silent, for they found nothing to answer.(9) So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. You ought to act in a God-fearing way so as not to give our enemies, the nations, room to reproach us.(10) I, my brothers, and my servants also have claims of money and grain against them; let us now abandon those claims!(11) Give back at once their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their homes, and [abandon] the claims for the hundred pieces of silver, the grain, the wine, and the oil that you have been pressing against them!”(12) They replied, “We shall give them back, and not demand anything of them; we shall do just as you say.” Summoning the priests, I put them under oath to keep this promise.(13) I also shook out the bosom of my garment and said, “So may God shake free of his household and property any man who fails to keep this promise; may he be thus shaken out and stripped.” All the assembled answered, “Amen,” and praised the LORD. The people kept this promise.

(8) And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.