Exodus 4:18-31

Common English Bible

Moses goes back to Egypt

¹⁸ Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my family in Egypt and see whether or not they are still living.”

Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt because everyone there who wanted to kill you has died.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his children, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. Moses also carried the shepherd’s rod from God in his hand.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you appear before Pharaoh and do all the amazing acts that I’ve given you the power to do. But I’ll make him stubborn so that he won’t let the people go. ²² Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my oldest son. ²³ I said to you, “Let my son go so he could worship me.” But you refused to let him go. As a result, now I’m going to kill your oldest son.’”

²⁴ During their journey, as they camped overnight, the Lord met Moses^[a] and tried to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a sharp-edged flint stone and cut off her son’s foreskin. Then she touched Moses’ genitals^[b] with it, and she said, “You are my bridegroom because of bloodshed.” ²⁶ So the Lord let him alone. At that time, she announced, “A bridegroom because of bloodshed by circumcision.”

²⁷ The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he went, and Aaron met him at God’s mountain and greeted him with a kiss. ²⁸ Moses told Aaron what the Lord had said about his mission and all the signs that the Lord had told him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron called together all the Israelite elders. ³⁰ Aaron told them everything that the Lord had told to Moses, and he performed the signs in front of the people. ³¹ The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had paid attention to the Israelites and had seen their oppression, they bowed down and worshipped.