Exodus 4:1-5:21

New American Standard Bible

Moses Given Signs

4 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or ^(A)listen ^[a]to what I say? For they may say, ‘^(B)The Lord has not appeared to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “^(C)A staff.” ³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^(D)it turned into a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he reached out with his hand and caught it, and it turned into a staff in his ^[b]hand— ⁵ “so that ^(E)they may believe that ^(F)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 furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand inside the fold of your robe.” So he put his hand inside the fold, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^(G)leprous like snow. ⁷ Then He said, “Put your hand inside the fold of your robe again.” So he put his hand into the fold again, and when he took it out of the fold, behold, ^(H)it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “So if they will not believe you nor ^[c]pay attention to the ^[d]evidence of the first ^[e]sign, they may believe the ^[f]evidence of the last ^[g]sign. ⁹ But if they will not believe even these two ^[h]signs nor pay attention to what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile ^(I)will turn into blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, ^(J)I have never been ^[i]eloquent, neither ^[j]recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am ^[k]slow of speech and ^[l]slow of tongue.” ¹¹ But the Lord said to him, “Who has made the human mouth? Or ^(K)who makes anyone unable to speak or deaf, or able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now then go, and ^(L)I Myself will be with your mouth, and ^(M)instruct you in what you are to say.” ¹³ But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by ^[m]whomever You will.”

Aaron to Be Moses’ Mouthpiece

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ^[n]he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, ^(N)he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be ^[o]overjoyed. ¹⁵ So you are to speak to him and ^(O)put the words in his mouth; and I Myself will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will instruct you in what you are to do. ^16 (P)He shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ And you shall take in your hand ^(Q)this staff, ^(R)with which you shall perform the signs.”

¹⁸ Then Moses departed and returned to ^(S)his father-in-law ^[p]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 ^[q]back to Egypt, for ^(T)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his ^(U)sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^(V)staff of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go ^[r]back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all ^(W)the wonders which I have put in your ^[s]power; but ^(X)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: “^(Y)Israel is My son, My firstborn. ²³ So I said to you, ‘^(Z)Let My son go so that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^(AA)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 ^[t]Moses, and ^(AB)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ So Zipporah took ^(AC)a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and ^[u]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”—^[v]because of the circumcision.

^27 (AD)Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the ^(AE)mountain of God and kissed him. ^28 (AF)Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and ^(AG)all the signs that He had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and ^(AH)assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; ³⁰ and ^(AI)Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the ^(AJ)signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So ^(AK)the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord ^[w](AL)was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, ^(AM)they bowed low and worshiped.

Israel’s Labor Increased

5 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “^(AN)This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘^(AO)Let My people go so that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” ² But Pharaoh said, “^(AP)Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, ^(AQ)I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “^(AR)The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, otherwise He will strike us with plague or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you let the people neglect their ^[x]work? Get back to your ^(AS)labors!” ⁵ Again Pharaoh said, “Look, ^(AT)the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!” ⁶ So the same day Pharaoh commanded ^(AU)the taskmasters over the people and their ^(AV)foremen, saying, ⁷ “You are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as previously; have them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But you shall impose on them the quota of bricks which they were making before; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are ^(AW)lazy, for that reason they cry ^[y]out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let the labor be heavier on the men, and have them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”

¹⁰ So ^(AX)the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not going to give you any straw. ¹¹ You go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; but none of your labor will be reduced.’” ¹² So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your ^[z]work quota, ^[aa]your daily amount, just as when ^[ab]you had straw.” ¹⁴ Moreover, ^(AY)the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, ^(AZ)were beaten ^[ac]and asked, “Why have you not completed your required task of making bricks either yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants? ¹⁶ There is no straw given to your servants, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are being beaten; but it is the fault of your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are ^(BA)lazy, very lazy; for that reason you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ So go now and work; for you will be given no straw, but you must deliver the quota of bricks.” ¹⁹ The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, ^[ad]since they were told, “You must not reduce ^[ae]your daily amount of bricks.” ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were ^[af]waiting for them. ²¹ And ^(BB)they said to them, “^(BC)May the Lord look upon you and judge you, because you have ^(BD)made ^[ag]us repulsive in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”