29
At this retort Moses fled, and became an exile in the land of Mid'ian, where he became the father of two sons.
30
"Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
31
When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came,
32
'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
33
And the Lord said to him, 'Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34
I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'
35
"This Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' God sent as both ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.
36
He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
37
This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up.'
38
This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us.
39
Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,
40
saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
41
And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
42
But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices, forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43
And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'
44
"Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.
45
Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David,
46
who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.
47
But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48
Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,
49
'Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?