Exodus 4

1 Respondens Moyses, ait: Non credent mihi, neque audient vocem meam, sed dicent: Non apparuit tibi Dominus.

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.’”

2 Dixit ergo ad eum: Quid est quod tenes in manu tua? Respondit: Virga.

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

3 Dixitque Dominus: Proiice eam in terram. Proiecit, et versa est in colubrum, ita ut fugeret Moyses.

“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.

4 Dixitque Dominus: Extende manum tuam, et apprehende caudam eius. Extendit, et tenuit, versaque est in virgam.

“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.

5 Ut credant, inquit, quod apparuerit tibi Dominus Deus patrum suorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Iacob.

“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.”

6 Dixitque Dominus rursum: Mitte manum tuam in sinum tuum. Quam cum misisset in sinum, protulit leprosam instar nivis.

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.

7 Retrahe, ait, manum tuam in sinum tuum. Retraxit, et protulit iterum, et erat similis carni reliquæ.

“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.

8 Si non crediderint, inquit, tibi, neque audierint sermonem signi prioris, credent verbo signi sequentis.

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.

9 Quod si nec duobus quidem his signis crediderint, neque audierint vocem tuam: sume aquam fluminis, et effunde eam super aridam, et quidquid hauseris de fluvio, vertetur in sanguinem.

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.”

10 Ait Moyses: Obsecro Domine, non sum eloquens ab heri, et nudiustertius: et ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum, impeditioris et tardioris linguæ sum.

“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.”

11 Dixit Dominus ad eum: Quis fecit os hominis? aut quis fabricatus est mutum et surdum, videntem et cæcum? nonne ego?

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?

12 Perge igitur, et ego ero in ore tuo: doceboque te quid loquaris.

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

13 At ille: Obsecro, inquit, Domine, mitte quem missurus es.

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

14 Iratus Dominus in Moysen, ait: Aaron frater tuus levites, scio quod eloquens sit: ecce ipse egreditur in occursum tuum, vidensque te lætabitur corde.

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.

15 Loquere ad eum, et pone verba mea in ore eius: et ego ero in ore tuo, et in ore illius, et ostendam vobis quid agere debeatis.

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.

16 Ipse loquetur pro te ad populum, et erit os tuum: tu autem eris ei in his quæ ad Deum pertinent.

He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.

17 Virgam quoque hanc sume in manu tua, in qua facturus es signa.

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

18 Abiit Moyses, et reversus est ad Iethro socerum suum, dixitque ei: Vadam et revertar ad fratres meos in Ægyptum, ut videam si adhuc vivant. Cui ait Iethro: Vade in pace.

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.

19 Dixit ergo Dominus ad Moysen in Madian: Vade, et revertere in Ægyptum: mortui sunt enim omnes qui quærebant animam tuam.

Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.”

20 Tulit ergo Moyses uxorem suam, et filios suos, et imposuit eos super asinum, reversusque est in Ægyptum, portans virgam Dei in manu sua.

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.

21 Dixitque ei Dominus revertenti in Ægyptum: Vide ut omnia ostenta quæ posui in manu tua, facias coram Pharaone: ego indurabo cor eius, et non dimittet populum.

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.

22 Dicesque ad eum: Hæc dicit Dominus: Filius meus primogenitus Israel.

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

23 Dixi tibi: Dimitte filium meum ut serviat mihi; et noluisti dimittere eum: ecce ego interficiam filium tuum primogenitum.

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!’”

24 Cumque esset in itinere, in diversorio occurrit ei Dominus, et volebat occidere eum.

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

25 Tulit idcirco Sephora acutissimam petram, et circumcidit præputium filii sui, tetigitque pedes eius, et ait: Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es.

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.

26 Et dimisit eum postquam dixerat: Sponsus sanguinum ob circumcisionem.

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

27 Dixit autem Dominus ad Aaron: Vade in occursum Moysi in desertum. Qui perrexit obviam ei in Montem Dei, et osculatus est eum.

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.

28 Narravitque Moyses Aaron omnia verba Domini quibus miserat eum, et signa quæ mandaverat.

And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.

29 Veneruntque simul, et congregaverunt cunctos seniores filiorum Israel.

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

30 Locutusque est Aaron omnia verba quæ dixerat Dominus ad Moysen: et fecit signa coram populo,

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

31 et credidit populus. Audieruntque quod visitasset Dominus filios Israel, et respexisset afflictionem illorum: et proni adoraverunt.

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.