Miraculous Signs for Moses

Then Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear(A) to you’?”

The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from it, but the Lord told him, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. “This will take place,” He continued, “so they will believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”(B)

In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, white as snow.[a](C) Then He said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” He put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out,[b] it had again become like the rest of his skin.(D) “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 4:6 A reference to whiteness or flakiness of the skin
  2. Exodus 4:7 Lit out of his cloak

Moses Argues with God

Then Moses answered, “Look, they won’t believe me and they won’t listen to me.[a] Instead, they’ll say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.’”

“What’s that in your hand?” the Lord asked him.

Moses[b] answered, “A staff.”[c]

Then God[d] said, “Throw it to the ground.” He threw it to the ground and it became a snake. Moses ran away from it.

Then God told Moses, “Reach out[e] and grab its tail.” So he reached out, grabbed it, and it became a staff[f] in his hand. God said, “I’ve done this[g] so that they may believe that the Lord God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

Again the Lord told him, “Put your hand into your bosom.”[h] He put his hand into his bosom and as soon as he brought it out it was leprous, like snow.[i] Then God[j] said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.” He returned it[k] to his bosom and as soon as he brought it out,[l] it was restored like the rest of[m] his skin.[n]

“Then if they don’t believe you and respond to the first sign, they may respond to the second[o] sign. But if they don’t believe even these two signs, and won’t listen to you, then take some water out of the Nile River[p] and pour it on the dry ground. The water you took from the Nile River[q] will turn into blood on the dry ground.”

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 4:1 Lit. to my voice. And so through the passage
  2. Exodus 4:2 Lit. he
  3. Exodus 4:2 Or rod
  4. Exodus 4:3 Lit. he
  5. Exodus 4:4 Lit. Stretch out your hand
  6. Exodus 4:4 Or rod
  7. Exodus 4:5 The Heb. lacks God said, “I have done this
  8. Exodus 4:6 I.e. under the folds of the garment at the chest
  9. Exodus 4:6 I.e. his hand was white
  10. Exodus 4:7 Lit. He
  11. Exodus 4:7 Lit. his hand
  12. Exodus 4:7 Lit. out from his bosom
  13. Exodus 4:7 The Heb. lacks the rest of
  14. Exodus 4:7 Lit. flesh
  15. Exodus 4:8 Lit. latter
  16. Exodus 4:9 The Heb. lacks River
  17. Exodus 4:9 The Heb. lacks River