Yahweh Provides Signs and Help for Speaking

4 And Moses answered, and he said, “And if they do not believe me and they do not listen to my voice, but they say, ‘Yahweh did not appear to you?’” ² And Yahweh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it onto the ground.” And he threw it onto the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses fled from it. ⁴ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—” (And he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his palm.)— ⁵ “so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^[a] appeared to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

⁶ And Yahweh said to him again, “Put your hand into the fold of your garment.” And he put his hand into the fold of his garment, and he took it out, and, to his surprise,^[b] his hand was afflicted with a skin disease, like snow. ⁷ And he said, “Return your hand to the fold of your garment.” And he returned his hand to the fold of his garment, and he took it out from the fold of his garment, and, to his surprise,^[c] it was restored like the rest of his body. ⁸ “And^[d] if they do not believe you and they will not listen to the voice of the former sign, then they will believe the voice of the latter sign. ⁹ And^[e] if they also do not believe the second of these signs and they will not listen to your voice, then you must take water from the Nile and pour it onto the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”