1 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or AEx 3:18; 6:30listen 1Lit to my voiceto what I say? For they may say, ‘BEx 3:15, 16The Loʀᴅ has not appeared to you.’ ” 2 The Loʀᴅ said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “AEx 4:17, 20A staff.” 3 Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and AEx 7:10-12it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 But the Loʀᴅ said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his 1Lit palmhand— 5 “that AEx 4:31; 19:9they may believe that BGen 28:13; 48:15; Ex 3:6, 15the Loʀᴅ, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

6 The Loʀᴅ furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ANum 12:10; 2 Kin 5:27leprous like snow. 7 Then He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, ANum 12:13-15; Deut 32:39; 2 Kin 5:14; Matt 8:3; Luke 17:12-14it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you or 1Lit listen toheed the 2Lit voicewitness of the first sign, they may believe the 2Lit voicewitness of the last sign. 9  “But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile AEx 7:19, 20will become blood on the dry ground.”

10 Then Moses said to the Loʀᴅ, “Please, Lord, AEx 3:11; 4:1; 6:12; Jer 1:6I have never been 1Lit a man of wordseloquent, neither 2Lit yesterdayrecently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am 3Lit heavyslow of speech and 3Lit heavyslow of tongue.” 11 The Loʀᴅ said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or APs 94:9; 146:8; Matt 11:5; Luke 1:20, 64who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Loʀᴅ? 12  “Now then go, and AEx 4:15, 16; Deut 18:18; Is 50:4; Jer 1:9I, even I, will be with your mouth, and BMatt 10:19, 20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11, 12; 21:14, 15teach you what you are to say.” 13 But he said, “Please, Lord, now 1Lit send by the hand which You sendsend the message by whomever You will.”

14 Then the anger of the Loʀᴅ burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that 1Lit speaking he speakshe speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, AEx 4:27he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15  “You are to speak to him and AEx 4:12, 30; 7:1f; Num 23:5, 12, 16; Deut 18:18; Is 51:16; 59:21; Jer 1:9put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. 16  “Moreover, AEx 7:1, 2he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. 17  “You shall take in your hand AEx 4:2, 20; 17:9this staff, BEx 7:9-20; 14:16with which you shall perform the signs.”

18 Then Moses departed and returned to 1Heb JetherJethro AEx 2:21; 3:1his father-in-law and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 Now the Loʀᴅ said to Moses in Midian, “Go 1Lit returnback to Egypt, for AEx 2:15, 23all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his AEx 18:3, 4; Acts 7:29sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the BEx 4:17; 17:9; Num 20:8, 9, 11staff of God in his hand.

21 The Loʀᴅ said to Moses, “When you go 1Lit to returnback to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all AEx 3:20; 11:9, 10the wonders which I have put in your 2Lit handpower; but BEx 7:3, 13; 9:12, 35; 10:1, 20, 27; 14:4, 8; Deut 2:30; Josh 11:20; 1 Sam 6:6; Is 63:17; John 12:40; Rom 9:18I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22  “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Loʀᴅ, “AIs 63:16; 64:8; Jer 31:9; Hos 11:1; Rom 9:4Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23  “So I said to you, ‘AEx 5:1; 6:11; 7:16Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, BEx 11:5; 12:29; Ps 105:36; 135:8; 136:10I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

24 Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Loʀᴅ met him and ANum 22:22sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took AGen 17:14; Josh 5:2, 3a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and 1Lit made it touch at his feetthrew it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood”—1Lit with reference tobecause of the circumcision.

27 AEx 4:14Now the Loʀᴅ said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the BEx 3:1; 18:5; 24:13mountain of God and kissed him. 28 AEx 4:15fMoses told Aaron all the words of the Loʀᴅ with which He had sent him, and BEx 4:8fall the signs that He had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and AEx 3:16assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; 30 and AEx 4:15, 16Aaron spoke all the words which the Loʀᴅ had spoken to Moses. He then performed the BEx 4:1-9signs in the sight of the people. 31 So AEx 3:18; 4:8f; 19:9the people believed; and when they heard that the Loʀᴅ 1Lit had visitedBGen 50:24; Ex 3:16was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then CGen 24:26; Ex 12:27; 1 Chr 29:20they bowed low and worshiped.