Acts 7:17-36
New Catholic Bible
17 “When the time of the promise that God had pledged to Abraham drew near, our people in Egypt had greatly increased in number. 18 Then a new king came to power who had never heard of Joseph. 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they could not survive.
20 “It was at this time that Moses was born, who was pleasing to God. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house, 21 but after he had been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in word and in deed.
23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow countrymen, the children of Israel. 24 When he saw one of them being maltreated, he went to his aid and avenged the victim by slaying the Egyptian. 25 He thought that his brethren would realize that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.
26 “The next day, he came upon two of them fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren! Why are you trying to hurt one another?’ 27 But the man who had wronged his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge? 28 Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Moses fled when he heard this, and he dwelt as an alien in Midian and became the father of two sons.
30 “After forty years had passed, 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, and as he approached to examine it, the voice of the Lord said to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’
“Moses was terrified and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their sighs, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come! I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses whom they rejected by saying ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge?’ God now sent forth as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert.
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