¹⁸ Then Moses departed and returned to ^(A)his father-in-law ^[a]Jethro, and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go ^[b]back to Egypt, for ^(B)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his ^(C)sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^(D)staff of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go ^[c]back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all ^(E)the wonders which I have put in your ^[d]power; but ^(F)I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: “^(G)Israel is My son, My firstborn. ²³ So I said to you, ‘^(H)Let My son go so that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^(I)I am going to kill your son, your firstborn.”’”

²⁴ But it came about at the overnight encampment on the way, that the Lord met ^[e]Moses, and ^(J)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ So Zipporah took ^(K)a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and ^[f]threw it at Moses’ feet; and she said, “You are indeed a groom of blood to me!” ²⁶ So He left him alone. At that time she said, “You are a groom of blood”—^[g]because of the circumcision.

^27 (L)Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the ^(M)mountain of God and kissed him. ^28 (N)Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and ^(O)all the signs that He had commanded him to do.