Moses Given Powerful Signs

4 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, ^(A)“A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— ⁵ “that they may ^(B)believe that the Lord, ^(C)the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you ^(A)in a thick cloud, that ^(B)the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also ^(C)believe you forever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord,

¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested ^(A)his glory. And ^(B)his disciples believed in him.

¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, ^(A)examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Test the Spirits

4 Beloved, ^(A)do not believe every spirit, but ^(B)test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for ^(C)many ^(D)false prophets ^(E)have gone out into the world.

¹¹ But ^(A)Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ^12 (B)Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and ^(C)relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you ^(D)swore by your own self, and said to them, ^(E)‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord ^(F)relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, ^(A)so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! ^(B)Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”