4:1 1 Moses answered again, 2 “And if 3 they do not believe me or pay attention to me, 4 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.” 5 4:3 The Lord 6 said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, 7 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 8 – 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.” 9 So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out – there was his hand, 10 leprous like snow! 11 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, 12 restored 13 like the rest of his skin! 14 4:8 “If 15 they do not believe you or pay attention to 16 the former sign, then they may 17 believe the latter sign. 18 4:9 And if 19 they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, 20 then take 21 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.” 22
4:10 Then Moses said to the Lord, 23 “O 24 my Lord, 25 I am not an eloquent man, 26 neither in the past 27 nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 28
4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave 29 a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 30 4:12 So now go, and I will be with your mouth 31 and will teach you 32 what you must say.” 33
4:13 But Moses said, 34 “O 35 my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!” 36
4:14 Then the Lord became angry with 37 Moses, and he said, “What about 38 your brother Aaron the Levite? 39 I know that he can speak very well. 40 Moreover, he is coming 41 to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. 42
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 43 and with his mouth, 44 and I will teach you both 45 what you must do. 46 4:16 He 47 will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if 48 he 49 were your mouth 50 and as if you were his God. 51 4:17 You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.” 52
4:18 53 So Moses went back 54 to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return 55 to my relatives 56 in Egypt and see 57 if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back 58 to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 59 4:20 Then Moses took 60 his wife and sons 61 and put them on a donkey and headed back 62 to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 4:21 The Lord said 63 to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, 64 see that you 65 do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. 66 But I will harden 67 his heart 68 and 69 he will not let the people go. 4:22 You must say 70 to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says 71 the Lord, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, 72 4:23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve 73 me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, 74 I will surely kill 75 your son, your firstborn!”’”
4:24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, 76 the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. 77 4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, 78 and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood 79 to me.” 4:26 So the Lord 80 let him alone. (At that time 81 she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to 82 the circumcision.)
4:27 The Lord said 83 to Aaron, “Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God 84 and greeted him with a kiss. 85 4:28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had 86 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. 87 4:30 Aaron spoke 88 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 89 that the Lord had attended to 90 the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground. 91