You Shall Have No Other Gods:
The Book of Exodus

Lesson 3 God Reveals His Name: ‘I AM WHO I AM’
the book of Exodus 3:1–22

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for the book of Exodus
cross references in the book of Exodus
next lesson: God Sends Aaron to Help Moses

This material coordinates with Lesson 3 on pages 15–19 in the study book You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

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And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”—the book of Exodus 20:1–6

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welcome to our in-depth study of the book of Exodus
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson from this 28-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. These online study pages link to our free lesson video overviews, as well as to a glossary and cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus has been granted an imprimatur and can be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-study question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

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open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the book of Exodus 2:1–25
Lesson 2 God Hears His People Groaning introduces Moses, one of the most important figures in the Old Testament. His birth and how he came to be adopted as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter are described, as well as what led him to flee Egypt, settle in the land of Midian, and marry a daughter of the local priest. Moses appears to have abandoned his identity as either an Egyptian or an Israelite and seems content to live among the Midianites, whose relationship to the Israelites can be found in the  book of Genesis 25:1–2. The second chapter in the book of Exodus ends with an account of God hearing the cries of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt and remembering the covenant he made with their forefathers, the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since God is omniscient (all-knowing), the idea of him forgetting something clearly is a literary device to call attention to the situation the Israelites are enduring in Egypt. It’s worthwhile to consider who most likely had forgotten all about this covenant.

map notes—Moses meets God
In the third chapter in the book of Exodus, Moses has been in Midian for some time. He has a son Gershom, whose name means “sojourner,” and Moses now is working as a shepherd caring for his father-in-law’s flock. This sets the scene for one of the most important biblical encounters between God and a human person, which describes Moses’ call to serve the LORD. The map (right) shows Mt. Horeb, the traditional site where this encounter may have occurred on the Sinai Peninsula, and Jabal al Lawz, an alternate site east of the Gulf of Aqaba near the area where the Midianites are thought to have dwelt. “Where Is the Mountain of God?” on page 19 in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus briefly explains some of the geographical issues behind the current scholarly dispute about the exact location of this important mountain. What matters isn’t the mountain’s precise location—which remains unresolved—as much as the presence of God. Click on the map (above) to enlarge it. The original map is on page 19 in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

God introduces himself (01:24:26)
In the third chapter in the book of Exodus, God tells his name to Moses, a huge event in light of Moses’ own confusion about whether he himself is an Israelite, an Egyptian, or possibly now a Midianite. Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses how until this point in time the LORD’s name has been understood by the Israelites as the God of someone else—Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. These guys now are dead, making it difficult for their Hebrew descendants to relate to the LORD. Moses’ concern over learning God’s identity is more about learning his own identity. Also of note—although it’s often thought that the LORD chooses Moses because he’s a Hebrew, that’s probably not true. Moses hasn’t been living as a Hebrew, and perhaps hasn’t ever experienced the same kind of existence as his fellow Israelites. At the same time, Moses never has been fully accepted by the Egyptians. Moses’ identity crisis seems to have been tabled for a bit while in Midian, but he clearly no longer is seen as an Israelite in the family line of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The point? Access to God isn’t necessarily hereditary.

The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study from Turning to God’s Word match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. You can follow along as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 3, “God Reveals His Name: ‘I AM WHO I AM’,” on pages 15–19 in the study book.

the all-important name of God
Nowhere in Scripture is the LORD referred to as the God of Moses the same way he continues to be referenced as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, many passages emphasize the name of the LORD without linking to a particular person. The name of the LORD frequently is mentioned by Old Testament prophets and elsewhere in the Old Testament, and there are New Testament references to the name of the LORD as well. One of the most well-known of the Old Testament passages is Psalm 124:8: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” In the First Book of the Kings 8:20 Solomon refers to the newly built Temple in Jerusalem as a “house for the name of the LORD.” Click to enlarge the illustration of many of God’s titles (right) created by Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino. It’s on page 17 in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus and in Lesson 13 Our Help Is in the Name of the LORD in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers.

Prayed at Friday Vesper (Week I), Psalm 124 is included as part of Lesson 13 Our Help Is in the Name of the LORD in Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. Learn more about Solomon’s use of the name of the LORD in Lesson 26 Solomon Dedicates the Temple in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King.

Q&A—what’s the big deal about how the LORD is addressed?
A participant in one of our Bible studies has asked why the name of the LORD revealed to Moses in the Old Testament book of Exodus 3:14 is the focus of so much Christian thought.

Q:  Why is it that God never is referred to as the “God of Moses”?

I AM—you could look it up in our archives
In the third chapter in the book of Exodus, God introduces himself to Moses in a way that doesn’t involve identification with another human person. To learn more about how Jesus appropriates this same association with God, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week. You can learn more about Jesus’ ‘I AM’ statements in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

ex libris—some additional insight into Moses as a prophet
Introduction to the Prophets: Their Stories, Sayings, and Scrolls offers an academic rather than spiritual look at the influence of the Old Testament prophets. The book contains numerous charts and illustrations, as well as commentary on prophetic biblical passages that occur in Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic lectionaries. In the section about stories of prophets in the Pentatech, the author, Thomas Leclerc, M.S. (Missionaries of La Salette), a priest and professor of Scripture at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, discusses the third chapter of the book of Exodus, which describes Moses’ call as a prophet. At ex libris—main bookshelf, you can read excerpts and learn more about Introduction to the Prophets: Their Stories, Sayings, and Scrolls and other works related to Bible study. The Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided and Volume II: Restoration & Redemption comprise a 51-lesson overview of the lives of the biblical prophets.

“… There are three things to note about [the third chapter in the book of Exodus]. First, a prophet is called: no one appoints himself or herself as a prophet. The call to be a prophet originates with God. This kind of narrative is a call story. It serves to [legitimize] and authorize the words of the prophet. Second, as if tounderscore the divine origins of this awesome task, Moses tries to decline the commission. This is sometimes referred to as a prophetic refusal. … Third, this story succinctly describes the essential elements of what it means to be a prophet: call, commission, message.”

oops—two corrections in the study book
There are two corrections on page 18 that will be included in the next printing of You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. We apologize for any confusion these may have caused. The first is in the list of citations included with Question 5. That updated question has been corrected to read:

Question 5  Read the book of Exodus 3:13–14. Why might the sons of Israel have reason to doubt that Moses has been sent to them by God? Consider why knowing God’s name might be enough to convince them that Moses indeed has been sent by the LORD. What is unusual about the name that God reveals to Moses? How is this name related to the New Testament name of Jesus? If necessary, refer to paragraph 2666 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. How does Jesus himself appropriate the divine name of God? If necessary, refer to the Gospel According to John 6:51; 8:12; 10:14–15; 11:25–26; 14:6; 15:1; and 18:5.

The second correction on page 18 is in the commentary box, “Standing on Holy Ground.” That commentary has been corrected to read:

Standing on Holy Ground
The place where Moses encounters the LORD is holy ground. Readers know this because God says so in the book of Exodus 3:5. The LORD also cautions Moses not to approach more closely and to remove his shoes. The book of Exodus will continue to emphasize the idea of God’s holiness and to address the ways in which the LORD is unlike mortal men and women. God appears to be making the point that his very presence sanctifies a location. Things associated with divinity deserve respect.

208    Faced with God’s fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God’s holiness. Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: “Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.” Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: “I will not execute my fierce anger… for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst.” The apostle John says likewise: “We shall … reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

signs God offers those who would serve him
In the book of Exodus 3:12, the LORD reassures Moses that he’ll have God’s presence with him when he goes to Pharaoh and the Israelites to announce that God wants the Hebrews to leave Egypt. Then God promises a sign, contradictory to the way most present-day Christians view signs, that it’s indeed the LORD who will be speaking through Moses: “[God] said, ‘But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.’” As ludicrous as this appears, it suggests something important about the nature of faith. Men and women are required to act on trust, but the LORD can and does do things after the fact to strengthen our understanding that what he’s asked of us was in accordance with God’s will. This example in the book of Exodus points to an understanding of God that indicates God isn’t in the habit of acting in a way that removes human demonstration of trust from the equation.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.

the book of Exodus 3:1–10—paragraph 2575
the book of Exodus 3:5—paragraph 2777
the book of Exodus 3:5–6—paragraph 208
the book of Exodus 3:6—paragraphs 205, 207
the book of Exodus 3:7–10—paragraph 1867
the book of Exodus 3:13–15—paragraph 205
the book of Exodus 3:14—paragraphs 446, 2666, 2810

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out when a person or place is mentioned in the biblical text under more than one name or more than one spelling. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the biblical text for every lesson in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a particular passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page, and it includes links to cross references in the primary biblical text for You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open the link and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the book of Exodus 3:1–22 (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following short prayer based on this lesson’s text from the book of Exodus.

O God, help us to recognize your voice
when we encounter you in the course of our everyday lives.
Give us the courage to respond to your call in trust.
We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ,
who never hesitated to do your will. Amen. 

Lesson 4 God Sends Aaron to Help Moses, the book of Exodus 4:1–31
Lesson 2 God Hears His People Groaning, the book of Exodus 2:1–25

you also may like our study of the book of Revelation
The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness, a 23-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, examines ways in which our traditional Christian view of heaven is built on Hebrew apocalyptic visions recorded in the Old Testament. This recently revised study includes maps and additional commentary and takes a close look at the role of the prophets in present-day Christianity. Illustrations by Tami Palladino depict the often-misunderstood images in the book of Revelation. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

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start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer your questions and to offer support. You may use this email to contact us directly if you’re interested in starting a Turning to God study or in having your study schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

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*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus—but the same books aren’t found in existing Hebrew manuscripts, which aren’t as old as the oldest version of the Septuagint. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.