< Exodus 4 >

1 respondens Moses 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 hoc quod tenes in manu tua respondit virga
And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
3 ait proice eam in terram proiecit et versa est in colubrum ita ut fugeret Moses
“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 adprehende 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 tuorum Deus Abraham Deus Isaac 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 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 in sinum tuum retraxit et protulit iterum et erat similis carni reliquae
“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 quicquid 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 Moses obsecro Domine non sum eloquens ab heri et nudius tertius et ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum inpeditioris et tardioris linguae 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 caecum 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 Mosen ait Aaron frater tuus Levites scio quod eloquens sit ecce ipse egreditur in occursum tuum vidensque te laetabitur 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 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 quae 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 Moses et reversus est ad Iethro cognatum suum dixitque ei vadam et revertar ad fratres meos in Aegyptum ut videam si adhuc vivunt 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 Mosen in Madian vade revertere in Aegyptum mortui sunt omnes qui quaerebant 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 Moses uxorem et filios suos et inposuit eos super asinum reversusque est in Aegyptum 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 Aegyptum vide ut omnia ostenta quae 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 haec dicit Dominus filius meus primogenitus meus Israhel
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 ilico Seffora acutissimam petram et circumcidit praeputium 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 Mosi in deserto qui perrexit ei obviam 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 Moses Aaron omnia verba Domini quibus miserat eum et signa quae 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 Israhel
Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
30 locutusque est Aaron omnia verba quae dixerat Dominus ad Mosen 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 Israhel et quod respexisset adflictionem eorum 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.

< Exodus 4 >