Moses’s Miraculous Power

4 Then Moses answered, “But look, they may not believe me or listen to me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ”^{(A) 2} The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”^{(B) 3} And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses drew back from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and seize it by the tail”—so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand— ⁵ “so that they may believe that the Lord, the 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 said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” He put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, as white as snow.^{(C) 7} Then God said, “Put your hand back into your cloak”—so he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body^(D)— ⁸ “If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign. ⁹ If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”^(E)

¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”^{(F) 11} Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?^{(G) 12} Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.”^(H)

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,^{(A) 27} to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.^{(B) 28} And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”^{[a](C) 29} But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.^{(D) 32} He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.^{(E) 33} He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”^{(F) 34} Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”^{[b] 35} The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^[c] will be holy; he will be called Son of God.^{(G) 36} And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.”^{(H) 38} Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.