Exodus 4:1–18
4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”
2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”
3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may abelieve that the bLord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
6 Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, clike snow. 7 And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, dit was restored like his other flesh. 8 “Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the efirst sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. 9 And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from 1the river and pour it on the dry land. fThe water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but gI am slow of speech and 2slow of tongue.”
11 So the Lord said to him, h“Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be iwith your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
13 But he said, “O my Lord, jplease send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
14 So kthe anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your lbrother? I know that he can speak well. And look, mhe is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Now nyou shall speak to him and oput the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and pI will teach you what you shall do. 16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and qyou shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
18 So Moses went and returned to rJethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”
And Jethro said to Moses, s“Go in peace.”