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?”

Moses answered, “But what if they do not believe me or listen to me but say instead, 'Yahweh has not appeared to you'?”

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

Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?” Moses 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.

Yahweh said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran back from 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—

Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out and take it by the tail.” So he reached out and took hold of the snake. It became a staff in his hand again.

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.”

“This is so they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

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;

Yahweh also said to him, “Now put your hand inside your robe.” So Moses put his hand inside his robe. When he brought it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as 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—

Yahweh said, “Put your hand inside your robe again.” So Moses put his hand inside his robe, and when he brought it out, he saw that it was made healthy again, like the rest of his 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.

Yahweh said, “If they do not believe you—if they do not pay attention to the first sign of my power or believe in it, then they will believe the second 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.”

If they do not believe even these two signs of my power, or listen to you, then take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water that you take will become blood on 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.”

Then Moses said to Yahweh, “Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you spoke to your servant. I am slow of speech and slow 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?

Yahweh said to him, “Who is it who made man's mouth? Who makes a man mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?

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

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

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

But Moses said, “Lord, please send anyone else, anyone whom you wish to 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,

Then Yahweh became angry with Moses. He said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Moreover, he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you, 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;

You will speak to him and put the words to say into his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will show you both what to 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;

He will speak to the people for you. He will be your mouth, and you will be to him like me, God.

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

You will take in your hand this staff. With it you will 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.”

So Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me go so I may return to my relatives who are in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” Jethro 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”;

Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for all the men who were trying to take your life are dead.”

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.

Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on a donkey. He returned to the land of Egypt, and he 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;

Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power. 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,

You must say to Pharaoh, 'This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my son, my firstborn,

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 say to you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But since you have refused to let him go, I will certainly kill your son, your firstborn.'”

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

Now on the way, when they stopped for the night, Yahweh met Moses and tried 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 Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son, and touched it to his feet. Then she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom to me by blood.”

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

So Yahweh let him alone. She said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” because 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,

Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” Aaron went, met him at the mountain 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.

Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh that he had sent him to say and about all the signs of Yahweh's power that he had commanded him to do.

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

Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the Israelites.

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

Aaron spoke all the words that Yahweh had spoken to Moses. He also displayed the signs of Yahweh's power in the sight 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.

The people believed. When they heard that Yahweh had observed the Israelites and that he had seen their oppression, then they bowed their heads and worshiped him.