Aaron to Speak for Moses

²⁸ Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹ he said to him, “I am the Lord.^(A) Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips,^(B) why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God^(C) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.^{(D) 2} You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,^(E) and though I multiply my signs and wonders^(F) in Egypt, ⁴ he will not listen^(G) to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment^(H) I will bring out my divisions,^(I) my people the Israelites. ⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord^(J) when I stretch out my hand^(K) against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded^(L) them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old^(M) and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,^(N)’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”^(O)

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. ¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers,^(P) and the Egyptian magicians^(Q) also did the same things by their secret arts:^{(R) 12} Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart^(S) became hard and he would not listen^(T) to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned^(A) and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.^(B) Could this be the Messiah?”^{(C) 30} They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,^(D) eat something.”

³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat^(E) that you know nothing about.”

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will^(F) of him who sent me and to finish his work.^{(G) 35} Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.^{(H) 36} Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests^(I) a crop for eternal life,^(J) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’^(K) is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town^(L) believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”^{(M) 40} So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”^(N)

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

⁴³ After the two days^(O) he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)^{(P) 45} When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,^(Q) for they also had been there.

⁴⁶ Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.^(R) And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,^(S) he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

⁴⁸ “Unless you people see signs and wonders,”^(T) Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

⁴⁹ The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. ⁵¹ While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. ⁵² When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household^(U) believed.

⁵⁴ This was the second sign^(V) Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

To the Church in Pergamum

¹² “To the angel of the church in Pergamum^(A) write: