Exodus 4:1–17

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.”