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.’”

Responding, Moses said, “They will not believe me, and they will not listen to my voice, but they will say: ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”

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

Therefore, he said to him, “What is that you hold in your hand?” He answered, “A staff.”

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 the Lord said, “Cast it down upon the ground.” He cast it down, and it was turned into a snake, so that Moses fled away.

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, “Reach out your hand, and take hold of its tail.” He reached out his hand and took hold, and it was turned into a staff.

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 may they believe,” he said, “that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to 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.

And the Lord said again, “Put your hand into your bosom.” And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it out leprous, resembling 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.

“Put your hand back,” he said, “into your bosom.” He put it back and brought it out again, and it was like the rest of his 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.

“If they will not believe you,” he said, “and will not listen to the sermon of the first sign, then they will believe the word of the subsequent 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.”

But if they will not believe even these two signs, and they will not listen to your voice: take from the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land, and whatever you will have drawn from the river will be turned into blood.”

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.”

Moses said: “I beg you, O Lord, I was not eloquent yesterday or the day before. And from the time that you have spoken to your servant, I have a greater impediment and slowness 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?

The Lord said to him: “Who made the mouth of man? And who has formed the mute and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Was it not I?

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

Go on, therefore, and I will be in your mouth. And I will teach you what you shall say.”

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

But he said, “I beg you, O Lord, send whomever else you would 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.

The Lord, being angry at Moses, said: “Aaron the Levite is your brother. I know that he is eloquent. Behold, he is going out to meet you, and seeing you, he will rejoice in 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.

Speak to him, and put my words in his mouth. And I will be in your mouth and in his mouth, and I will reveal to you what you must 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.

He will speak for you to the people, and he will be your mouth. But you will be with him in those things that pertain to God.

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

Also, take this staff into your hand; with it you will accomplish 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.

Moses went forth, and he returned to Jethro, his father in law, and he said to him, “I shall go and return to my brothers in Egypt, so that I may see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to him, “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 so the Lord said to Moses in Midian: “Go, and return to Egypt. For all those who sought your life have died.”

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.

Therefore, Moses took his wife and his sons, and he placed them upon a donkey, and he returned into Egypt, carrying the staff 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 him, as he was returning to Egypt: “See that you accomplish, in the sight of Pharaoh, all the wonders that I have placed in your hand. I will harden his heart, and he will not release the people.

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

And you shall say to him: ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.

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!’”

I have said to you: Release my son, so that he may serve me. And you were not willing to release him. Behold, I will put to death your firstborn son.’”

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

And while he was on the journey, at an inn, the Lord met him, and he was willing to kill him.

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.

For this reason, Zipporah took a very sharp stone, and she circumcised the foreskin of her son, and she touched his feet, and she said, “You are a bloody spouse to me.”

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

And he released him, after she had said, “You are a bloody spouse,” 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.

Then the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” And he went directly to meet him on the mountain of God, and he kissed him.

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 explained to Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs which he had commanded.

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

And they arrived at the same time, and they gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel.

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

And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses. And he accomplished the signs in the sight of 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 believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the sons of Israel, and that he had looked with favor upon their affliction. And falling prostrate, they worshiped.