30. Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses from a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
31. Moses was surprised by what he saw. He went closer to get a better look, and the Lord said,
32. “I am the God who was worshipped by your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moses started shaking all over and didn't dare to look at the bush.
33. The Lord said to him, “Take off your sandals. The place where you are standing is holy.
34. With my own eyes I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now I am sending you back to Egypt.”
35. This was the same Moses that the people rejected by saying, “Who made you our leader and judge?” God's angel had spoken to Moses from the bush. And God had even sent the angel to help Moses rescue the people and be their leader.
36. In Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the desert, Moses rescued the people by performing miracles and wonders for forty years.
37. Moses is the one who told the people of Israel, “God will choose one of your people to be a prophet, just as he chose me.”
38. Moses brought our people together in the desert, and the angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. There he was given these life-giving words to pass on to us.
39. But our ancestors refused to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt.
40. The people said to Aaron, “Make some gods to lead us! Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what's happened to him now.”
41. Then they made an idol in the shape of a calf. They offered sacrifices to the idol and were pleased with what they had done.
42. God turned his back on his people and left them. Then they worshipped the stars in the sky, just as it says in the Book of the Prophets, “People of Israel, you didn't offer sacrifices and offerings to me during those forty years in the desert.
43. Instead, you carried the tent where the god Molech is worshipped, and you took along the star of your god Rephan. You made those idols and worshipped them. So now I will have you carried off beyond Babylonia.”
44. The tent where our ancestors worshipped God was with them in the desert. This was the same tent that God had commanded Moses to make. And it was made like the model that Moses had seen.