One Year Bible.

Moses at the Burning Bush

¹Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. ³So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey— the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²“I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go 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 should I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵God also told Moses, “Say 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 is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.

¹⁶Go, 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 surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’

¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.

²¹And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed. ²²Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses’ Staff

¹Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

²And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

⁴“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — has appeared to you.”

Moses’ Hand

⁶Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.

⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD.

So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

⁸And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. ⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

The Appointment of Aaron

¹⁰“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

¹³But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

Moses Leaves for Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.”

“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

¹⁹Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” ²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

²¹The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

²²Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, ²³and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”

²⁴Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

²⁶So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

The People Believe Moses and Aaron

²⁷Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses.

And Moses performed the signs before the people, ³¹and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

God Calls Cyrus

¹This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed,

whose right hand I have grasped

to subdue nations before him,

to disarm kings,

to open the doors before him,

so that the gates will not be shut:

²“I will go before you

and level the mountains;

I will break down the gates of bronze

and cut through the bars of iron.

³I will give you the treasures of darkness

and the riches hidden in secret places,

so that you may know that I am the LORD,

the God of Israel, who calls you by name.

⁴For the sake of Jacob My servant

and Israel My chosen one,

I call you by name;

I have given you a title of honor,

though you have not known Me.

⁵I am the LORD, and there is no other;

there is no God but Me.

I will equip you for battle,

though you have not known Me,

⁶so that all may know,

from where the sun rises to where it sets,

that there is none but Me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

⁷I form the light and create the darkness;

I bring prosperity and create calamity.

I, the LORD, do all these things.

⁸Drip down, O heavens, from above,

and let the skies pour down righteousness.

Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout

and righteousness spring up with it;

I, the LORD, have created it.

⁹Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—

one clay pot among many.

Does the clay ask the potter,

‘What are you making?’

Does your work say,

‘He has no hands’?

¹⁰Woe to him who says to his father,

‘What have you begotten?’

or to his mother,

‘What have you brought forth?’”

¹¹Thus says the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:

“Concerning things to come, do you question Me about My sons,

or instruct Me in the work of My hands?

¹²It is I who made the earth

and created man upon it.

It was My hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I ordained all their host.

¹³I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness,

and I will make all his ways straight.

He will rebuild My city

and set My exiles free,

but not for payment or reward,

says the LORD of Hosts.”

¹⁴This is what the LORD says:

“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,

along with the Sabeans, men of stature,

will come over to you

and will be yours;

they will trudge behind you;

they will come over in chains and bow down to you.

They will confess to you:

‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other;

there is no other God.’”

¹⁵Truly You are a God who hides Himself,

O God of Israel, the Savior.

¹⁶They will all be put to shame and humiliated;

the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.

¹⁷But Israel will be saved by the LORD

with an everlasting salvation;

you will not be put to shame or humiliated,

to ages everlasting.

¹⁸For thus says the LORD,

who created the heavens— He is God;

He formed the earth and fashioned it;

He established it;

He did not create it to be empty,

but formed it to be inhabited:

“I am the LORD,

and there is no other.

¹⁹I have not spoken in secret,

from a place in a land of darkness.

I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,

‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’

I, the LORD, speak the truth;

I say what is right.

²⁰Come, gather together, and draw near,

you fugitives from the nations.

Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood

and pray to a god that cannot save.

²¹Speak up and present your case—

yes, let them take counsel together.

Who foretold this long ago?

Who announced it from ancient times?

Was it not I, the LORD?

There is no other God but Me,

a righteous God and Savior;

there is none but Me.

²²Turn to Me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth;

for I am God,

and there is no other.

²³By Myself I have sworn;

truth has gone out from My mouth,

a word that will not be revoked:

Every knee will bow before Me,

every tongue will swear allegiance.

²⁴Surely they will say of Me,

‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’”

All who rage against Him

will come to Him and be put to shame.

²⁵In the LORD all descendants of Israel

will be justified and will exult.

Living for God’s Glory

¹Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ²Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God. ³For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

⁴Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you. ⁵But they will have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

⁷The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. ⁸Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹Show hospitality to one another without complaining.

¹⁰As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another. ¹¹If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Suffering as Christians

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

¹⁴If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. ¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? ¹⁸And,

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

¹⁹So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.