4:1 | *Moses answered again,* “And if* they do not believe me or pay attention to me,* but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?” |
4:2 | The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”* |
4:3 | The Lord* said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake,* and Moses ran from it. |
4:4 | But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grab it by the tail” – so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand* – |
4:5 | “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.” |
4:6 | The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand into your robe.”* So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out – there was his hand,* leprous like snow!* |
4:7 | He said, “Put your hand back into your robe.” So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe – there it was,* restored* like the rest of his skin!* |
4:8 | “If* they do not believe you or pay attention to* the former sign, then they may* believe the latter sign.* |
4:9 | And if* they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you,* then take* some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”* |
4:10 | Then Moses said to the Lord,* “O* my Lord,* I am not an eloquent man,* neither in the past* nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”* |
4:11 | The Lord said to him, “Who gave* a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?* |
4:12 | So now go, and I will be with your mouth* and will teach you* what you must say.”* |
4:13 | But Moses said,* “O* my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!”* |
4:14 | Then the Lord became angry with* Moses, and he said, “What about* your brother Aaron the Levite?* I know that he can speak very well.* Moreover, he is coming* to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.* |
4:15 | “So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth* and with his mouth,* and I will teach you both* what you must do.* |
4:16 | He* will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if* he* were your mouth* and as if you were his God.* |
4:17 | You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.”* |
4:18 | *So Moses went back* to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return* to my relatives* in Egypt and see* if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” |
4:19 | The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back* to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”* |
4:20 | Then Moses took* his wife and sons* and put them on a donkey and headed back* to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand. |
4:21 | The Lord said* to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt,* see that you* do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control.* But I will harden* his heart* and* he will not let the people go. |
4:22 | You must say* to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says* the Lord, “Israel is my son, my firstborn,* |
4:23 | and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve* me,’ but since you have refused to let him go,* I will surely kill* your son, your firstborn!”’” |
4:24 | Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night,* the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.* |
4:25 | But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet,* and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood* to me.” |
4:26 | So the Lord* let him alone. (At that time* she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to* the circumcision.) |
4:27 | The Lord said* to Aaron, “Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God* and greeted him with a kiss.* |
4:28 | Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had* sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him. |
4:29 | Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders.* |
4:30 | Aaron spoke* all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people, |
4:31 | and the people believed. When they heard* that the Lord had attended to* the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.* |