27. The man who was hurting the other pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?
28. Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29. When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.
30. “Forty years later an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush as he was in the desert near Mount Sinai.
31. When Moses saw this, he was amazed and went near to look closer. Moses heard the Lord’s voice say,
32. ‘I am the God of your ancestors, 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, because you are standing on holy ground.
34. I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries and have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’
35. “This Moses was the same man the two men of Israel rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of the angel that 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 forty years.
37. This is the same Moses that said to the people of Israel, ‘God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people.’
38. This is the Moses who was with the gathering of the Israelites 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 ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt.
40. They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him.’
41. So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it and were proud of what they had made with their own hands.
42. But God turned against them and 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 forty years.
43. You have carried with youthe tent to worship Molechand the idols of the star god Rephan that you made to worship.So I will send you away beyond Babylon.’
44. “The Holy Tent where God spoke to our ancestors was with them in the desert. God told Moses how to make this Tent, and he made it like the plan God showed him.
45. Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in, and God forced the other people out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same Tent they had received from their ancestors. They kept it until the time of David,