Exodus 4–5

4And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. ²And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, ^aA rod. ³And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. ⁴And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: ⁵That they may ^bbelieve that ^cthe Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. ⁶And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous ^das snow. ⁷And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, ^eit was turned again as his other flesh. ⁸And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. ⁹And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and ^fthe water which thou takest out of the river ^†shall become blood upon the dry land. ¹⁰And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not ^†eloquent, neither ^†heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but ^gI am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. ¹¹And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? ¹²Now therefore go, and I will be ^hwith thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. ¹³And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand ⁱof him whom thou ^||wilt send. ¹⁴And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵And ^kthou shalt speak unto him, and ^lput words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. ¹⁶And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and ^mthou shalt be to him instead of God. ¹⁷And thou shalt take ⁿthis rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. ¹⁸And Moses went and returned to ^†Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. ¹⁹And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for ^oall the men are dead which sought thy life. ²⁰And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took ^pthe rod of God in his hand. ²¹And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those ^qwonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but ^rI will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. ²²And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, ^sIsrael is my son, ^teven my firstborn: ²³And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, ^uI will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

²⁴And it came to pass by the way ^xin the inn, that the Lord ^ymet him, and sought to kill him. ²⁵Then Zipporah took ^||a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and ^†cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. ²⁶So he ^zlet him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. ²⁷And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness ^ato meet Moses. And he went, and met him in ^bthe mount of God, and kissed him. ²⁸And Moses ^ctold Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the ^dsigns which he had commanded him. ²⁹And Moses and Aaron ^ewent and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: ^30fAnd Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹And the people ^gbelieved: and when they heard that the Lord had ^hvisited the children of Israel, and that he ⁱhad looked upon their affliction, then ^kthey bowed their heads and worshipped.

5And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold ^aa feast unto me in the wilderness. ²And Pharaoh said, ^bWho is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. ³And they said, ^cThe God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest ^dhe fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. ⁴And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your ^eburdens. ⁵And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their ^eburdens. ⁶And Pharaoh commanded the same day the ^ftaskmasters of the people, and ^gtheir officers, saying, ⁷Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as ^hheretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸And the tale of the bricks, which they did make ^hheretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. ^9†Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. ¹⁰And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. ¹¹Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. ¹²So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. ¹³And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, ^†your daily tasks, as when there was straw. ¹⁴And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as ⁱheretofore? ¹⁵Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? ¹⁶There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. ¹⁷But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. ¹⁸Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. ¹⁹And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of ^kyour daily task. ²⁰And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: ^21lAnd they said unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour ^†to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

²²And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? ²³For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; ^†neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.