Exodus 4:1–17

Miraculous Signs for Pharaoh

4Then 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.’ ”

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

He said, “A rod.”

³And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴Then 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.”

⁶Furthermore 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. ⁷And 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. ⁹And 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.”

¹⁰Then 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.”

¹¹So 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? ¹²Now therefore, go, and I will be ⁱwith your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³But he said, “O my Lord, ^jplease send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴So ^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. ¹⁵Now 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. ¹⁶So 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. ¹⁷And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”