Exodus 4–5

Signs for Moses

4Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen^q to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

²Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,”^r he replied.

³The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake,^s and he ran from it. ⁴Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵“This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe^t 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.”

⁶Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous^a—it had become as white as snow.^u

⁷“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored,^v like the rest of his flesh.

⁸Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe^w you or pay attention to the first sign,^x they may believe the second. ⁹But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood^y on the ground.”

¹⁰Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”^z

¹¹The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute?^a Who gives them sight or makes them blind?^b Is it not I, the Lord? ¹²Now go;^c I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”^d

¹³But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”^e

¹⁴Then the Lord’s anger burned^f against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet^g you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth;^h I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouthⁱ and as if you were God to him.^{j 17}But take this staff^k in your hand^l so you can perform the signs^m with it.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

¹⁹Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to killⁿ you are dead.^o” ²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons,^p put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff^q of God in his hand.

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders^r I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart^s so that he will not let the people go.^{t 22}Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,^{u 23}and I told you, “Let my son go,^v so he may worship^w me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”^x

²⁴At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses^b and was about to kill^y him. ²⁵But Zipporah^z took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin^a and touched Moses’ feet with it.^c “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

²⁷The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain^b of God and kissed^c him. ²⁸Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

²⁹Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders^d of the Israelites, ³⁰and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs^e before the people, ³¹and they believed.^f And when they heard that the Lord was concerned^g about them and had seen their misery,^h they bowed down and worshiped.ⁱ

Bricks Without Straw

5Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go,^j so that they may hold a festival^k to me in the wilderness.’ ”

²Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord,^l that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”^m

³Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journeyⁿ into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues^o or with the sword.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor?^p Get back to your work!” ⁵Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous,^q and you are stopping them from working.”

⁶That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers^r and overseers in charge of the people: ⁷“You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks;^s let them go and gather their own straw. ⁸But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota.^t They are lazy;^u that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’^{v 9}Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

¹⁰Then the slave drivers^w and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. ¹¹Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced^x at all.’ ” ¹²So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. ¹³The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” ¹⁴And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed,^y demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? ¹⁶Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

¹⁷Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy!^z That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸Now get to work.^a You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” ²⁰When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, ²¹and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge^b you! You have made us obnoxious^c to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword^d in their hand to kill us.”^e

God Promises Deliverance

²²Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?^f Is this why you sent me? ²³Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued^g your people at all.”