Moses’ Miraculous Signs

4 And Moses answered and said, “But they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice. For they will say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

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

And he said, “A rod.”

³ He said, “Throw it on the ground.”

And he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent. Then Moses fled from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put forth your hand and take it by the tail.” And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. ⁵ “This is so that they may believe 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.”

⁶ The Lord said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, his hand was as leprous as snow.

⁷ He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again and brought it out of his bosom, and it was restored like his other flesh.

⁸ “If they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, then they may believe the voice of the latter sign. ⁹ But if they will not believe also these two signs or listen to your voice, then you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant. But I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who made the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you must say.”

¹³ He said, “O my Lord, send, I pray, by the hand of whomever else You will send.”

¹⁴ The anger of the Lord was inflamed against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he comes out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you must do. ¹⁶ What’s more, he will be your spokesman to the people, and he will be as a mouth for you, and you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ You must take this rod in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.”

And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for all the men are dead who sought your life.” ²⁰ Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “When you go to return into Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart, so that he shall not let the people go. ²² You shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is My son, even My firstborn. ²³ So I say to you, “Let My son go, that he may serve Me. And if you refuse to let him go, I will slay your son, even your firstborn.” ’ ”

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to kill him. ²⁵ Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and threw it at his feet, and said, “Surely a bloody husband are you to me.” ²⁶ So He let him go. Then she said, “A bloody husband you are, because of the circumcision.”

²⁷ Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went, and met him at the mount of God, and kissed him. ²⁸ Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.

²⁹ Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. ³⁰ And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ And the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, they bowed down and worshipped.