Exodus 4:18-31

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

¹⁸ And Moses went away and, returning to Jethro his father-in-law, said to him, Let me go back, I pray you, to my relatives in Egypt to see whether they are still alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt; for all the men who were seeking your life [for killing the Egyptian] are dead.^(A)

²⁰ And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on donkeys, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, When you return into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all those miracles and wonders which I have put in your hand; but I will make him stubborn and harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

²² And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn.

²³ And I say to you, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, your firstborn.

²⁴ Along the way at a [resting-] place, the Lord met [Moses] and sought to kill him [made him acutely and almost fatally ill].

²⁵ [Now apparently he had ^[a]failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife being opposed to it; but seeing his life in such danger] Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it to touch [Moses’] feet, and said, Surely a husband of blood you are to me!

²⁶ When He let [Moses] alone [to recover], Zipporah said, A husband of blood are you because of the circumcision.

²⁷ The Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God [Horeb, or Sinai] and kissed him.

²⁸ Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and all the signs with which He had charged him.

²⁹ Moses and Aaron went and gathered together [in Egypt] all the elders of the Israelites.

³⁰ 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 Israelites, and that He had looked [in compassion] upon their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.