ExodusChapter 4

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¹Then Moses answered, "What if they don't believe me? What if they won't listen to me? They might say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'" ²The LORD asked him, "What is that in your hand?" Moses answered, "A staff." ³The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." So Moses threw it on the ground. It turned into a snake! Moses ran away from it. ⁴The LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and grab it by the tail." So Moses reached out and caught the snake. It turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵"This is so they will believe that the LORD has appeared to you. He is the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." ⁶The LORD also said to Moses, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So he did. When he took it out, his hand had leprosy. It was as white as snow.a ⁷The LORD said, "Put your hand back inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak. When he took it out, it was healed. It was like the rest of his skin. ⁸Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second sign. ⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile. Pour it on the dry ground. The water from the Nile will turn into blood on the ground." ¹⁰Moses said, "Please, Lord, I have never been good with words. I wasn't in the past. I'm not even now that you have spoken to your servant. My mouth is slow and my tongue is slow." ¹¹The LORD said to him, "Who gave people their mouths? Who makes them unable to speak or hear? Who makes them able to see or blind? Isn't it I, the LORD? ¹²Now go! I will help you speak. I will teach you what to say." ¹³But Moses said, "Please, Lord, send someone else." ¹⁴Then the LORD became very angry with Moses. He said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will be glad. ¹⁵You will speak to him and tell him what to say. I will help both of you speak. I will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be like your mouth. And you will be like God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand. You will do signs with it." ¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro. He said, "Please let me go back to my relatives in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive." Jethro said, "Go in peace." ¹⁹The LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead." ²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey. He started back to Egypt. He carried the staff of God in his hand. ²¹The LORD told Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, do all the wonders I have given you the power to do. Do them in front of Pharaoh. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²²Then tell Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son. ²³I told you to let my son go so he can worship me. But you refused to let him go. So now I will kill your firstborn son!'" ²⁴On the way, Moses stopped at a place to spend the night. There the LORD met him and was about to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a sharp stone knife. She cut off her son's foreskin. She touched Moses' feet with it. She said, "You are surely a bridegroom of blood to me." ²⁶So the LORD left him alone. (When she said "bridegroom of blood," she was talking about the circumcision.) ²⁷The LORD had said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So Aaron went. He met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say. He told him about all the signs the LORD had ordered him to do. ²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the leaders of the Israelites. ³⁰Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses did the signs in front of the people. ³¹And the people believed. They heard that the LORD had come to help the Israelites. They heard that he had seen their suffering. Then they bowed down and worshiped.