Exodus 4

1 And Moses answers and says, “And if they do not give credence to me, nor listen to my voice, and say, YHWH has not appeared to you?”

And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

2 And YHWH says to him, “What [is] this in your hand?” And he says, “A rod”;

And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thy hand? and he said, A staff.

3 and He says, “Cast it to the earth”; and he casts it to the earth, and it becomes a serpent—and Moses flees from its presence.

And he said, Cast it on the ground; and he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

4 And YHWH says to Moses, “Put forth your hand, and lay hold on the tail of it”; and he puts forth his hand, and lays hold on it, and it becomes a rod in his hand—

And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and grasp it by the tail; and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.

5 “so that they believe that YHWH, God of their fathers, has appeared to you, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.”

In order that they may believe that there hath appeared unto thee the Everlasting One, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

6 And YHWH says to him again, “Now put your hand into your bosom”; and he puts his hand into his bosom, and he brings it out, and behold, his hand [is] leprous as snow;

And the Lord said farthermore unto him, Do put thy hand into thy bosom: and he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, white as snow.

7 and He says, “Put your hand back into your bosom”; and he puts his hand back into his bosom, and he brings it out from his bosom, and behold, it has turned back as his flesh—

And he said, Put thy hand again into thy bosom: and he put his hand again into his bosom; and when he pulled it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

8 “and it has come to pass, if they do not give credence to you, and do not listen to the voice of the first sign, that they have given credence to the voice of the latter sign.

And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 And it has come to pass, if they do not give credence even to these two signs, nor listen to your voice, that you have taken of the waters of the River, and have poured [it] on the dry land, and the waters which you take from the River have been, indeed, they have become blood on the dry land.”

And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, and will not hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou shalt take out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

10 And Moses says to YHWH, “O my Lord, I [am] not a man of words, either yesterday, or before, or since Your speaking to Your servant, for I [am] slow of mouth, and slow of tongue.”

And Moses said unto the Lord, Pardon, O Lord, I am not a man of words, neither yesterday, nor the day before, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; for I am heavy of speech, and heavy of tongue.

11 And YHWH says to him, “Who appointed a mouth for man? Or who appoints the mute, or deaf, or open, or blind? Is it not I, YHWH?

And the Lord said unto him, Who hath given a mouth to man? or who maketh him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the Lord?

12 And now, go, and I am with your mouth, and have directed you that which you speak”;

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

13 and he says, “O my Lord, please send by the hand [of another that] You send.”

And he said, Pardon, O Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wouldst send.

14 And the anger of YHWH burns against Moses, and He says, “Is Aaron the Levite not your brother? I have known that he speaks well, and also, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he has seen you, then he has rejoiced in his heart,

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 and you have spoken to him, and have set the words in his mouth, and I am with your mouth, and with his mouth, and have directed you that which you do;

And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and I will teach you what ye shall do.

16 and he, he has spoken to the people for you, and it has come to pass, he is to you for a mouth, and you are to him for God;

And he shall speak for thee unto the people; and he shall be, yea he shall be to thee as a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as a God.

17 and you take this rod in your hand, with which you do the signs.”

And this staff shalt thou take in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.

18 And Moses goes and turns back to his father-in-law Jethro, and says to him, “Please let me go, and I return to my brothers who [are] in Egypt, and I see whether they are yet alive.” And Jethro says to Moses, “Go in peace.”

And Moses went and returned to Jether his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren that are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive; and Jithro said to Moses, Go in peace.

19 And YHWH says to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for all the men who seek your life have died”;

And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought thy life.

20 and Moses takes his wife, and his sons, and causes them to ride on the donkey, and turns back to the land of Egypt, and Moses takes the rod of God in his hand.

And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

21 And YHWH says to Moses, “In your going to return to Egypt, see—all the wonders which I have put in your hand—that you have done them before Pharaoh, and I strengthen his heart, and he does not send the people away;

And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, regard well all the wonders which I have put in thy hand, and do them before Pharaoh; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.

22 and you have said to Pharaoh, Thus said YHWH: My son, My firstborn [is] Israel,

And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus hath said the Lord, My son, my first-born, is Israel.

23 and I say to you, send My son away, and he serves Me; and [if] you refuse to send him away, behold, I am slaying your son, your firstborn.”

And I said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou refusest to let him go; so, behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born.

24 And it comes to pass in the way, in a lodging place, that YHWH meets him, and seeks to put him to death;

And as he was on the journey in the inn, the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.

25 and Zipporah takes a flint, and cuts off the foreskin of her son, and causes [it] to touch his feet, and says, “You [are] surely a bridegroom of blood to me”;

Then took Zipporah a sharp instrument, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody relative art thou to me.

26 and He desists from him. Then she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” in reference to the circumcision.

And then he withdrew from him; when she said, A bloody relative, but only in respect of the circumcision.

27 And YHWH says to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses”; and he goes, and meets him on the mountain of God, and kisses him,

And the Lord said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses, into the wilderness; and he went and met him by the mount of God, and kissed him.

28 and Moses declares to Aaron all the words of YHWH with which He has sent him, and all the signs with which He has charged him.

And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.

29 And Moses goes—Aaron also—and they gather all the elderly of the sons of Israel,

And Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the children of Israel:

30 and Aaron speaks all the words which YHWH has spoken to Moses, and does the signs before the eyes of the people;

And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses; and he did the signs before the eyes of the people.

31 and the people believe when they hear that YHWH has looked after the sons of Israel, and that He has seen their affliction; and they bow and pay respect.

And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.