Exodus 4

1 Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord.

2 And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.

3 “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it.

4 “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: (and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand: )

5 “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.

6 Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.

Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow.

7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. (And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.)

8 And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.

And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign.

9 But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.

10 “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.

11 And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

12 Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.

13 But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send.

14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.

15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.

Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.

16 He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.

And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.

17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs.

18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

And Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my relations in Egypt and see if they are still living. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.”

And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were attempting to take your life.

20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass and went back to the land of Egypt: and he took the rod of God in his hand.

21 The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go.

22 Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,

And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons:

23 and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”

And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship; and you did not let him go: so now I will put the first of your sons to death.

24 Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.

Now on the journey, at the night's resting-place, the Lord came in his way and would have put him to death.

25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cutting off the skin of her son's private parts, and touching his feet with it, she said, Truly you are a husband of blood to me.

26 So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

So he let him go. Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision.

27 Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the waste land and you will see Moses. So he went and came across Moses at the mountain of God, and gave him a kiss.

28 And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.

And Moses gave Aaron an account of all the words of the Lord which he had sent him to say, and of all the signs which he had given him orders to do.

29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,

Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel:

30 and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people,

And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people.

31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.