Exodus 4

¹Then Moses answered , But behold , they will not believe me or listen to my voice , for they will say , The Lord did not appear to you.

²The Lord said to him, What is that in your hand ? He said , A staff .

³And he said , Throw it on the ground . So he threw it on the ground , and it became a serpent , and Moses ran from it.

⁴But the Lord said to Moses , Put out your hand and catch it by the tail —so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand —

⁵that 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.

⁶Again , the Lord said to him, Put your hand inside your cloak . And he put his hand inside his cloak , and when he took it out , behold, his hand was leprous like snow .

⁷Then God said , Put your hand back inside your cloak . So he put his hand back inside his cloak , and when he took it out , behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh .

⁸If they will not believe you, God said, or listen to the first sign , they may believe the latter sign .

⁹If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice , you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground , and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground .

¹⁰But Moses said to the Lord, Oh , my Lord , I am not eloquent , either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant , but I am slow of speech and of tongue .

¹¹Then the Lord said to him, Who has made man’s mouth ? Who makes him mute , or deaf , or seeing , or blind ? Is it not I, the Lord?

¹²Now therefore go , and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak .

¹³But he said , Oh , my Lord , please send someone else .

¹⁴Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said , Is there not Aaron , your brother , the Levite ? I know that he can speak well . Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart .

¹⁵You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth , and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do .

¹⁶He shall speak for you to the people , and he shall be your mouth , and you shall be as God to him.

¹⁷And take in your hand this staff , with which you shall do the signs .

¹⁸Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive . And Jethro said to Moses , Go in peace .

¹⁹And the Lord said to Moses in Midian , Go back to Egypt , for all the men who were seeking your life are dead .

²⁰So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey , and went back to the land of Egypt . And Moses took the staff of God in his hand .

²¹And the Lord said to Moses , When you go back to Egypt , see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power . But I will harden his heart , so that he will not let the people go .

²²Then you shall say to Pharaoh , Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son ,

²³and I say to you, Let my son go that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go , behold, I will kill your firstborn son .

²⁴At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death .

²⁵Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said , Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!

²⁶So he let him alone . It was then that she said , A bridegroom of blood , because of the circumcision .

²⁷The Lord said to Aaron , Go into the wilderness to meet Moses . So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

²⁸And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel .

³⁰Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people .

³¹And the people believed ; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction , they bowed their heads and worshiped .