Exodus 4

1 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.

“But what if they don't believe me or listen to what I say?” Moses asked. “They could say, ‘The Lord didn't appear to you.’”

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

The Lord asked him, “What are you holding in your hand?” “A walking stick,” Moses replied.

3 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.

“Throw it on the ground,” he told Moses. So Moses did. It turned into a snake and Moses ran away from it.

4 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: )

“Reach out and grab hold of it by its tail,” the Lord told Moses. Moses did so and it turned back into a walking stick in his hand.

5 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.

“You are to do this so that they will believe that I the Lord did appear to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

6 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.

Then the Lord told him, “Put your hand inside your clothes close to your chest.” So Moses did as he was told. When he took his hand out, it was white like snow with a skin disease.

7 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.)

“Now put your hand back inside your clothes,” the Lord said. Moses did so. When he took it out again, his hand had returned to normal.

8 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.

“If they don't believe you and they're not convinced by the first sign, they'll believe because of the second sign,” the Lord explained.

9 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.

“But if they still don't believe you or listen to you because of these two signs, then you are to take some water from the Nile and pout it out on the ground. The Nile water will turn into blood on the ground.”

10 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.

Then Moses said to the Lord, “Pleased excuse me, but I'm not someone who is good with words—not in the past, and not from the time you have been speaking with me, your servant. My speech is slow and I don't say things well.”

11 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?

“Who gave people mouths?” the Lord asked him. “Who makes people deaf or dumb, able to see or blind? It's I, the Lord, who does that.

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

Now go, and I myself will be your mouth, and I will tell you what you are to say.”

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

“Please, Lord, send someone else!” Moses responded.

14 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.

The Lord got angry with Moses, and told him, “There's your brother Aaron, the Levite. I know he speaks well. He's on his way to meet you, and he'll be very happy to see you.

15 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.

Speak to him and tell him what to say. I will be your mouth and his mouth, and I will tell you what you are to do.

16 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.

Aaron will speak on your behalf to the people, as if he was your mouth, and you will be in the place of God to him.

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

Make sure to take your walking stick with you so you can use it to do the signs.”

18 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.

Then Moses returned to Jethro his father-in-law and told him, “Please allow me to go back to my own people in Egypt so I can see if any of them are still alive.” “Go with my blessing,” Jethro replied.

19 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.

While Moses was in Midian, the Lord told him, “Go back to Egypt because all those who wanted to kill you have died.”

20 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.

Moses put his wife and sons on a donkey and went back to Egypt, carrying the walking stick that God had used to perform miracles.

21 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.

The Lord told Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, make sure to go to Pharaoh and carry out the miracles I've given you to do. I will make him stubborn and he will not let the people go.

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

This is what you are to tell Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says. Israel is my firstborn son.

23 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.

I ordered you to let my son go so he can worship me. But you refused to release him, so I will now kill your firstborn son.”

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

But while they were on their way the Lord came to the place where they were staying, wanting to kill Moses.

25 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.

However, Zipporah used a flint knife to cut off her son's foreskin. She touched his feet with it, and said to him, “You are a blood-husband to me.”

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

(Calling him a blood-husband referred to circumcision.) After this the Lord left Moses alone.

27 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.

The Lord had told Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the desert.” So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain of God and greeted him with a kiss.

28 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.

Then Moses explained to Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say and all the miracles he had ordered him to do.

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

Moses and Aaron traveled to Egypt. There they had all the Israelite elders gather together.

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

Aaron shared with them everything the Lord had told Moses, and Moses carried out the miracles so they could see them.

31 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.

The Israelites were convinced. When they heard that the Lord had come to them, and that he had been touched by their suffering, they bowed their heads and worshiped.