The Lord Gives Great Power to Moses
1 Moses asked the Lord, “Suppose everyone refuses to listen to my message, and no one believes that you really appeared to me?”
2 The Lord answered, “What's that in your hand?”
“A walking stick,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down!” the Lord commanded. So Moses threw the stick on the ground. It immediately turned into a snake, and Moses jumped back.
4 “Pick it up by the tail!” the Lord told him. And when Moses did this, the snake turned back into a walking stick.
5 “Do this,” the Lord said, “and the Israelites will believe that you have seen me, the God who was worshiped by their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
6 Next, the Lord commanded Moses, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” Moses obeyed, and when he took it out, his hand had turned white as snow—like someone with leprosy.
7 “Put your hand back inside your shirt,” the Lord told him. Moses did so, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
8-9 Then the Lord said, “If no one believes either of these miracles, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground. The water will immediately turn into blood.”
10 Moses replied, “I have never been a good speaker. I wasn't one before you spoke to me, and I'm not one now. I am slow at speaking, and I can never think of what to say.”
11 But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don't you know that I am the one who does these things? 12 Now go! When you speak, I will be with you and give you the words to say.”
13 Moses begged, “Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
14 The Lord became angry with Moses and said:
What about your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know he is a good speaker. He is already on his way here to visit you, and he will be happy to see you again. 15-16 Aaron will speak to the people for you, and you will be like me, telling Aaron what to say. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will tell each of you what to do. 17 Now take this walking stick and use it to perform miracles.
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Moses went to his father-in-law Jethro and asked, “Please let me return to Egypt to see if any of my people are still alive.”
“All right,” Jethro replied. “I hope all goes well.”
19 But even before this, the Lord had told Moses, “Leave the land of Midian and return to Egypt. Everyone who wanted to kill you is now dead.” 20 So Moses put his wife and sons on donkeys and headed for Egypt, holding the walking stick that had the power of God.
21 On the way the Lord said to Moses:
When you get to Egypt, go to the king and work the miracles I have shown you. But I will make him so stubborn that he will refuse to let my people go. 22 Then tell him that I have said, “Israel is my first-born son, 23 and I commanded you to release him, so he could worship me. But you refused, and now I will kill your first-born son.”
Zipporah's Son Is Circumcised
24 One night while Moses was in camp, the Lord was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah circumcised her son with a flint knife. She touched his legs with the skin she had cut off and said, “My dear son, this blood will protect you.” 26 So the Lord did not harm Moses. Then Zipporah said, “Yes, my dear, you are safe because of this circumcision.”
Aaron Is Sent To Meet Moses
27 The Lord sent Aaron to meet Moses in the desert. So Aaron met Moses at Mount Sinai and greeted him with a kiss. 28 Moses told Aaron what God had sent him to say; he also told him about the miracles God had given him the power to perform.
29 Later they brought together the leaders of Israel, 30 and Aaron told them what the Lord had sent Moses to say. Then Moses worked the miracles for the people, 31 and everyone believed. They bowed down and worshiped the Lord because they knew that he had seen their suffering and was going to help them.
1 Then Moses answered, and said, But lo, they will not beleeue me, nor hearken vnto my voyce: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared vnto thee. 2 And the Lord said vnto him, What is that in thine hande? And he answered, A rod. 3 Then said he, Cast it on the ground. So he cast it on the grounde, and it was turned into a serpent: and Moses fled from it. 4 Againe the Lord saide vnto Moses, Put foorth thine hand, and take it by the tayle. Then he put foorth his hande and caught it, and it was turned into a rod in his hand. 5 Do this that they may beleeue, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Iaakob hath appeared vnto thee. 6 And the Lord saide furthermore vnto him, Thrust nowe thine hand into thy bosome. And he thrust his hand into his bosome, and when he tooke it out againe, behold, his hand was leprous as snowe. 7 Moreouer he said, Put thine hand into thy bosome againe. So he put his hande into his bosome againe, and pluckt it out of his bosome, and behold, it was turned againe as his other flesh. 8 So shall it be, if they wil not beleeue thee, neither obey the voyce of ye first signe, yet shall they beleeue for the voyce of the seconde signe. 9 But if they will not yet beleeue these two signes, neither obey vnto thy voyce, then shalt thou take of the water of the riuer, and powre it vpon the drie lande: so the water which thou shalt take out of the riuer, shalbe turned to blood vpon the drie land. 10 But Moses said vnto the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither at any time haue bene, nor yet since thou hast spoken vnto thy seruant: but I am slowe of speach and slowe of tongue. 11 Then the Lord said vnto him, Who hath giuen the mouth to man? or who hath made the domme, or the deafe, or him that seeth, or the blinde? haue not I the Lord? 12 Therefore goe nowe, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say. 13 But he saide, Oh my Lord, sende, I pray thee, by the hande of him, whome thou shouldest sende. 14 Then the Lord was verie angrie with Moses, and said, Doe not I know Aaron thy brother the Leuite, that he himselfe shall speake? for loe, he commeth also foorth to meete thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Therefore thou shalt speake vnto him, and put the wordes in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye ought to doe. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman vnto the people: and he shall be, euen he shall be as thy mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God. 17 Moreouer thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do miracles. 18 Therefore Moses went and returned to Iethro his father in lawe, and said vnto him, I pray thee, let me goe, and returne to my brethren, which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet aliue. Then Iethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 (For the Lord had said vnto Moses in Midian, Goe, returne to Egypt: for they are all dead which went about to kill thee) 20 Then Moses tooke his wife, and his sonnes, and put them on an asse, and returned towarde the lande of Egypt, and Moses tooke the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the Lord saide vnto Moses, When thou art entred and come into Egypt againe, see that thou doe all the wonders before Pharaoh, which I haue put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, and he shall not let the people goe. 22 Then thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my sonne, euen my first borne. 23 Wherefore I say to thee, Let my sonne go, that he may serue me: if thou refuse to let him goe, beholde, I will slay thy sonne, euen thy first borne. 24 And as he was by the waye in the ynne, the Lord met him, and would haue killed him. 25 Then Zipporah tooke a sharpe knife, and cut away the foreskinne of her sonne, and cast it at his feete, and said, Thou art indeede a bloody husband vnto me. 26 So he departed from him. Then she saide, O bloodie husband (because of the circumcision) 27 Then the Lord saide vnto Aaron, Goe meete Moses in the wildernesse. And he went and mette him in the Mount of God, and kissed him. 28 Then Moses tolde Aaron all the wordes of the Lord, who had sent him, and all the signes wherewith he had charged him. 29 So went Moses and Aaron, and gathered all the Elders of the children of Israel. 30 And Aaron told all the wordes, which the Lord had spoken vnto Moses, and he did the miracles in the sight of the people, 31 And the people beleeued, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and had looked vpon their tribulation, they bowed downe, and worshipped.