Exodus 4:1–9

MIRACULOUS SIGNS FOR MOSES

4Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear^g to you’?”

²The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³“Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. ⁵“This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”^h

⁶In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow.^{Ai 7}“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.^{j 8}“If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. ⁹And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”^k