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.

Then responded Moses, and said, And lo! they will not believe me, neither hearken to my voice, —for they will say, Yahweh, hath not appeared unto thee.

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

And Yahweh said unto him—What is this in thy hand? And he said—A staff.

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.

Then said he—Cast it to the earth. And he cast it to the earth, and it became a serpent, —and Moses fled from the face thereof.

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: )

And Yahweh said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by its tail: So he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a staff 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.

that they may believe that Yahweh, God of their fathers, —God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee.

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 said Yahweh unto him, yet again—Bring, I pray thee, thy hand, into thy bosom. So he brought his hand, into his bosom, —and then took it out, and lo! his hand, was leprous, —like snow,

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.)

And he said—Put back thy hand into thy bosom: So he put back his hand into his bosom, —and then took it out of his bosom, and lo it had come again like his own flesh:

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.

thus shall it come to pass, if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, then will they believe the voice of the next sign;

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.

and it shall come to pass if they will not believe even these two signs nor hearken to thy voice, then shalt thou take of the water of the river, and pour it out on the dry land, —so shall the water which thou hast taken from the river, become, yea it shall become, blood, on the dry land.

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.

And Moses said unto Yahweh—Pardon, O My Lord! not a man of words, am I, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, —for heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue, I am.

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?

Then Yahweh said unto him—Who appointed a mouth for man, or who appointeth him to be dumb, or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?

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

Now, therefore go, —and, I, will be with thy mouth, so will I direct thee, what thou shalt speak.

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

And he said—Pardon, O My Lord! send, I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send—

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.

Then was kindled the anger of Yahweh against Moses, and he said—Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite? I know that he, can speak. Moreover also lo! he himself is coming forth to meet thee, as surely as he seeth thee, so surely will he rejoice in his heart.

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.

Then shalt thou speak unto him, and shalt put the words in his mouth, —and, I, will be with thy mouth and with his mouth, so will I direct you what ye shall 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.

And, he, shall speak for thee unto the people, —so shall it come to pass that he shall become thy mouth, and thou shalt become to him as God.

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

And this staff, take thou in thy hand, —wherewith thou shalt 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.

So Moses went and returned unto Jethro his father-in-law and said to him—Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren who are in Egypt, that I may see whether they are yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses: Go and prosper.

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.

Then said Yahweh unto Moses in Midian, Go, return to Egypt, —for all the men are dead who were seeking thy life.

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.

So Moses took his wife and his sons, and caused them to ride upon the ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt, —and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

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.

And Yahweh said unto Moses, When thou goest to return to Egypt, see as touching all the wonders which I have put in thy hand, that thou do them before Pharaoh—but, I, will let his heart wax bold, and he will not suffer the people to go.

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

Then shalt thou say unto Pharaoh, Thus, saith Yahweh—My son—my firstborn, is Israel;

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.

Therefore I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me, But if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I, am going to slay, thy son, thy firstborn.

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

And it came to pass, on the way, in the resting-place for the night, that Yahweh fell upon him, and sought to kill him.

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.

So Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it down at his feet, —and said—Surely, a bridegroom by rites of blood, art thou to me!

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

So he let him go, Then, it was that she said, A bridegroom by rites of blood—with regard to the rites of circumcision.

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.

And Yahweh said unto Aaron, Go thy way to meet Moses, towards the desert. So he went his way, and fell in with him in the mountain of God and kissed him.

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.

And Moses told Aaron, all the words of Yahweh wherewith he had sent him, —and all the signs wherewith he had charged him.

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

So Moses and Aaron went their way, —and gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel.

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

And Aaron spake all the words which Yahweh had spoken unto Moses, —and did the signs before the eyes of the people,

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.

And the people believed, —and when they heard that Yahweh had concerned himself for the sons of Israel, and that he had looked upon their humiliation, then bent they their heads and bowed themselves down.