Exodus 4:1-9

International Standard Version

Moses Argues with God

4 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.’”

² “What’s that in your hand?” the Lord asked him.

Moses^[b] answered, “A staff.”^[c]

³ 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.

⁴ 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. ⁵ 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.”

⁶ 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] 7} 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]

⁸ “Then if they don’t believe you and respond to the first sign, they may respond to the second^[o] sign. ⁹ 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.”