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he fled to the region of Midian, where he married and had two sons. 3.7 And while pasturing the flocks of his own father-in-law, he led them to Mount Sinai and saw the vision of that bush, how the bush was on fire with fire and was not consumed. Then, as he ran to see the great wonder, an angel of God called to him in the name of God and urged him to go to Pharaoh the king in Egypt to bring the sons of Israel out of the slavery of the Egyptians. But when he refused on account of the impossibility of the matter—for he considered that as a lone man he could not fight against such a great king—God through the angel made him more courageous by reminding him of his forefathers, that from a barren woman and from aged people He had wondrously established a great and numerous nation. And He prepared him to work wonders by means of the staff in his hand; in which things Moses, being amazed at the wonders, was persuaded to go to Egypt. 3.8 And when he had gone and had meetings with Pharaoh, since He was about to show him how God had brought forth all creation, what things first and what second and in order, He prepared him to work wonders and to change the elements in the name of God and to show all the Egyptians and the Israelites, and through them also all people together, that he was faithful to God in all things which he said and did, smoothing the way for them and preparing them so that he might be readily received by them. And the sorcerers also were permitted to contend with him, from whom he himself had been instructed, and with divine power he was set against them, being taught to despise such things, so that they gave up and said: "This is the finger of God." 3.9 Therefore, having changed the nature of the waters into blood and having killed the fish, and again the blood into living and life-giving water, and having again divided the Red Sea and walled it up on this side and on that before the Israelites and the Egyptians, he was readily received by them after these things, saying: "God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it divide water from water,' and it was so." 3.10 Again, having made darkness for three successive days among the Egyptians, but light among the Israelites, he was again readily received, saying: "And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, 'Let there be light.' And God divided the light from the darkness." And he supposed a first and a second and a third day without the course of the sun and moon and stars, saying: "God divided the light from the darkness." 3.11 Then again he brought forth the frogs from the river and the gnats from the earth, and he was found faithful, saying: "God said, 'Let the waters bring forth living creatures,' and it was so," and again: "God said, 'Let the earth bring forth this and that,' and it was so," and likewise all the other wonders. After all these things, having killed the firstborn, he was found faithful, saying after all these things: "God made man." And as we said, He prepared him to be faithful to the Israelites, in what he both said and did, as they saw with their own eyes the things that happened. 3.12 Then, after he led them out of Egypt and brought them across the Red Sea on dry land and led them to Mount Sinai, where he had seen the divine vision, God, still working wonders before the people, set the mountain on fire and made it smoke; and sounds of trumpets were heard echoing from heaven and were heard proceeding to a greater degree; and having terrified them with a tempest and darkness and gloom, thus most terribly He spoke to Moses before the people upon the cloud. 3.13 And then, having brought him up on the mountain for forty days, He prepared him to remain without food, having hidden him in the cloud; in a way He removed him from all earthly things and made him forget all things and what he had learned from the Egyptians, regenerating him like an infant in the womb, and after forty days forming and ensouling him, and after these things He revealed to him all that He had made in the six days of the world's creation,
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ἔφυγεν ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη τῆς Μαδιάμ, ἐν ᾗ γήμας ἐποίησε παῖδας δύο. 3.7 Ποιμαίνων δὲ τὰ πρόβατα τοῦ ἰδίου πενθεροῦ ἀπήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸ Σίναιον ὄρος καὶ θεωρεῖ τὴν ὀπτασίαν ἐκείνης τῆς βάτου, ὡς πυρὶ κατεφλέγετο ἡ βάτος καὶ οὐ κατεκαίετο. Εἶτα προσδραμόντα ἰδεῖν τὸ μέγα θαῦμα προσκαλεῖται αὐτὸν ἄγγελος Θεοῦ ἐπ' ὀνόματι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ προτρέπεται ἀπελθεῖν πρὸς βασιλέα Φαραὼ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐπὶ τῷ ἐξαγαγεῖν τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. Τοῦ δὲ παραιτουμένου διὰ τὸ ἀδύνατον τοῦ πράγματοςἐθεώρει γὰρ ὡς μόνος ἄνθρωπος μάχεσθαι πρὸς τοιοῦτον μέγαν βασιλέα οὐ δύναται, θαρραλεώτερον ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἀπεργάζεται ὑπομιμνήσκων αὐτὸν τῶν προπατόρων αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐκ στείρας καὶ γεγηρακότων παραδόξως συνεστήσατο ἔθνος μέγα καὶ πολύ. Καὶ προπαρασκευάζει διὰ τῆς ῥάβδου τῆς ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ θαυματουργεῖν· ἐν οἷς καταπλαγεὶς ὁ Μωϋσῆς τοῖς θαύμασι, πείθεται ἀπελθεῖν εἰς Αἴγυπτον. 3.8 Ἀπελθόντα δὲ καὶ ποιήσαντα συντυχίας πρὸς Φαραώ, ἐπειδήπερ ἤμελλε δεικνύειν αὐτῷ πῶς τὴν κτίσιν ἅπασαν παρήγαγεν ὁ Θεός, ποῖά τε πρῶτα καὶ ποῖα δεύτερα καὶ καθεξῆς, παρασκευάζει αὐτὸν θαυματουργεῖν καὶ μεταβάλλειν τὰ στοιχεῖα ἐπὶ ὀνόματι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ δεικνύειν πᾶσι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις, δι' αὐτῶν δὲ καὶ πᾶσιν ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὅτι πιστὸς ἦν τῷ Θεῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, οἷς λέγει καὶ ποιεῖ, προομαλίζων αὐτοὺς καὶ προπαρασκευάζων εἰς τὸ εὐπαράδεκτος αὐτοῖς εἶναι. Συγχωροῦνται δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐπαοιδοὶ συμβαλεῖν αὐτῷ, ἐξ ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπεπαίδευτο, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει ἀντιπαρατάττεται αὐτοῖς, διδασκόμενος τῶν τοιούτων καταφρονεῖν, ὥστε παραιτεῖσθαι ἐκείνους καὶ λέγειν ὅτι· "∆άκτυλος Θεοῦ ἐστιν οὗτος." 3.9 Μεταβαλὼν οὖν τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὑδάτων εἰς αἷμα καὶ ἀποκτείνας τοὺς ἰχθύας καὶ πάλιν τὸ αἷμα εἰς ὕδωρ ζῶν καὶ γόνιμον, καὶ σχίσας πάλιν τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν καὶ τειχίσας ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, εὐπαράδεκτος ἦν αὐτοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα λέγων· "Εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Γενηθήτω στερέωμα ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἔσται διαχωρίζον ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος καὶ ὕδατος, καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως." 3.10 Πάλιν ποιήσας σκότος ἐφεξῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις φῶς, πάλιν εὐπαράδεκτος ἦν λέγων· "Καὶ σκότος ἦν ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Γενηθήτω φῶς. Καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους." Καὶ ὑπέθετο πρώτην καὶ δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην ἡμέραν ἄνευ δρόμου ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων λέγων· "∆ιεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους." 3.11 Εἶτα πάλιν ἐξάγει τοὺς βατράχους ἐκ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ τοὺς σκνίπας ἐκ τῆς γῆς, καὶ πιστὸς ἦν λέγων· "Εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἐξαγαγέτω τὰ ὕδατα ψυχὰς ζώσας, καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως", καὶ πάλιν· "Εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἐξαγαγέτω ἡ γῆ τόδε καὶ τόδε, καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως", ὁμοίως καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ παράδοξα πάντα. Ὕστερον πάντων τὰ πρωτότοκα ἀποκτείνας πιστὸς ἦν λέγων ὕστερον πάντων· "Ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον." Καὶ καθάπερ ἔφημεν, προπαρασκευάζει αὐτὸν πιστὸν τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις, ἐφ' οἷς ἔλεγέ τε καὶ ἔπραττεν, ὄψεσιν ὁρῶσι τὰ γενόμενα. 3.12 Εἶτα ἐξαγαγόντος αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ περαιώσαντος διὰ ξηρᾶς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν καὶ ἀγαγόντος ἐπὶ τὸ Σινᾶ ὄρος, ἐν ᾧ ἦν ἑωρακὼς τὴν ὀπτασίαν τὴν θείαν, ἔτι θαυματουργῶν ὁ Θεὸς ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ λαοῦ ἐμπυρίζει τὸ ὄρος καὶ ἐκάπνιζεν αὐτό· καὶ φωναὶ σαλπίγγων οὐρανόθεν ἠχουσῶν ἐγίνοντο καὶ προβαινόντων εἰς μεῖζον ἠκούοντο· καὶ θυέλλῃ καὶ σκότῳ καὶ γνόφῳ ἐκφοβήσας αὐτοὺς οὕτως φοβερώτατα τῷ Μωϋσῇ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ λαοῦ διελέγετο ἐπὶ τῆς νεφέλης. 3.13 Καὶ τότε ἀνενέγκας ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας παρασκευάζει ἄσιτον διαμεῖναι, κρύψας ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ τρόπον τινὰ ἐξίστησιν αὐτὸν πάντων τῶν γηΐνων καὶ ποιεῖ αὐτὸν πάντων ἐπιλαθέσθαι καὶ ὧν ἦν μαθὼν ἐκ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἀναγεννῶν ὥσπερ βρέφος ἐν μήτρᾳ, μετά τε τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας διαμορφῶν καὶ ψυχῶν αὐτόν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀποκαλύπτει αὐτῷ ὅσα τε πεποίηκεν ἔν τε τῆς κοσμοποιΐας ἓξ ἡμέραις,