31. When Moses saw this, he was amazed. He went near to look closer at it. Moses heard the Lord’s voice.
32. The Lord said, ‘I am the God of your ancestors. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look.
33. The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You are standing on holy ground.
34. I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries. I have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’
35. “This Moses was the same man the Jews said they did not want. They had said to him, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’ Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of an angel. This was the angel Moses saw in the burning bush.
36. So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for 40 years.
37. This is the same Moses that said to the Jewish people: ‘God will give you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people.’
38. This is the same Moses who was with the gathering of the Jews in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.
39. “But our fathers did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him. They wanted to go back to Egypt again.
40. They said to Aaron, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.’
41. So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it. The people were proud of what they had made with their own hands!
42. But God turned against them. He did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says,‘People of Israel, you did not bring me sacrifices and offeringswhile you traveled in the desert for 40 years.
43. But now you will have to carry with youthe tent to worship the false god Molechand the idols of the star god Rephan that you made to worship.This is because I will send you away beyond Babylon.’ Amos 5:25-27
44. “The Holy Tent where God spoke to our fathers was with the Jews in the desert. God told Moses how to make this Tent. He made it like the plan God showed him.