Sh'mot (Exo) 4
4
1Moshe replied, “But I’m certain they won’t believe me, and they won’t listen to what I say, because they’ll say, ‘Adonai did not appear to you.’” 2Adonai answered him, “What is that in your hand?” and he said, “A staff.” 3He said, “Throw it on the ground!” and he threw it on the ground. It turned into a snake, and Moshe recoiled from it. 4Then Adonai said to Moshe, “Put your hand out and take it by the tail.” He reached out with his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5“This is so that they will believe that Adonai, the God of their fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov, has appeared to you!”
6Furthermore Adonai said to him, “Now put your hand inside your coat.” He put his hand in his coat; and when he took it out his hand was leprous, as white as snow. 7Then God said, “Now put your hand back in your coat.” He put his hand back in his coat; and when he took it out, it was as healthy as the rest of his body. 8“If they won’t believe you or heed the evidence of the first sign, they will be convinced by the second. 9But if they aren’t persuaded even by both these signs and still won’t listen to what you say, then take some water from the river, and pour it on the ground. The water you take from the river will turn into blood on the dry land.”
10Moshe said to Adonai, “Oh, Adonai, I’m a terrible speaker. I always have been, and I’m no better now, even after you’ve spoken to your servant! My words come slowly, my tongue moves slowly.” 11Adonai answered him, “Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes a person dumb or deaf, keen-sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, Adonai? 12Now, therefore, go; and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what to say.”
13But he replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else — anyone you want!” 14At this, Adonai’s anger blazed up against Moshe; he said, “Don’t you have a brother, Aharon the Levi? I know that he’s a good speaker. In fact, here he is now, coming out to meet you; and he’ll be happy to see you. 15You will speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and his, teaching you both what to do. 16Thus he will be your spokesman to the people, in effect; for you, he will be a mouth; and for him, you will be like God. 17Now take this staff in your hand, because you need it to perform the signs.”
(vi) 18Moshe left, returned to Yitro his father-in-law and said to him, “I beg you to let me go and return to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see if they are still alive.” Yitro said to Moshe, “Go in peace.” 19Adonai said to Moshe in Midyan, “Go on back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20So Moshe took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and started out for Egypt. Moshe took God’s staff in his hand. 21Adonai said to Moshe, “When you get back to Egypt, make sure that you do before Pharaoh every one of the wonders I have enabled you to do. Nevertheless, I am going to make him hardhearted, and he will refuse to let the people go. 22Then you are to tell Pharaoh: ‘Adonai says, “Isra’el is my firstborn son. 23I have told you to let my son go in order to worship me, but you have refused to let him go. Well, then, I will kill your firstborn son!”’”
24At a lodging-place on the way, Adonai met Moshe and would have killed him, 25had not Tzipporah taken a flintstone and cut off the foreskin of her son. She threw it at his feet, saying, “What a bloody bridegroom you are for me!” 26But then, God let Moshe be. She added, “A bloody bridegroom because of the circumcision!”
27Adonai said to Aharon, “Go into the desert to meet Moshe.” He went, met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28Moshe told him everything Adonai had said in sending him, including all the signs he had ordered him to perform. 29Then Moshe and Aharon went and gathered together all the leaders of the people of Isra’el. 30Aharon said everything Adonai had told Moshe, who then performed the signs for the people to see. 31The people believed; when they heard that Adonai had remembered the people of Isra’el and seen how they were oppressed, they bowed their heads and worshipped.
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Sh'mot (Exo) 4: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleExodus 4
4
Signs for Moses to Do
1Moses answered, “What if the elders of Israel won’t believe me? What if they won’t listen to me? Suppose they say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.’ Then what should I do?”
2The Lord said to him, “What do you have in your hand?”
“A walking stick,” he said.
3The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
So Moses threw it on the ground. It turned into a snake. He ran away from it. 4Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach your hand out. Take the snake by the tail.” So he reached out and grabbed the snake. It turned back into a walking stick in his hand. 5The Lord said, “When they see this sign, they will believe that I appeared to you. I am the Lord, the God of their fathers. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.”
6Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, the skin had become as white as snow. His hand was covered with a skin disease.
7“Now put it back into your coat,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back into his coat. When he took it out, the skin was healthy again. His hand was like the rest of his skin.
8Then the Lord said, “Suppose they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign. Then maybe they will believe the second one. 9But suppose they do not believe either sign. Suppose they will not listen to you. Then get some water from the Nile River. Pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will turn into blood on the ground.”
10Moses spoke to the Lord. He said, “Lord, I’ve never been a good speaker. And I haven’t gotten any better since you spoke to me. I don’t speak very well at all.”
11The Lord said to him, “Who makes human beings able to talk? Who makes them unable to hear or speak? Who makes them able to see? Who makes them blind? It is I, the Lord. 12Now go. I will help you speak. I will teach you what to say.”
13But Moses said, “Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
14Then the Lord became very angry with Moses. He said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you. He will be glad to see you. 15Speak to him. Tell him what to say. I will help both of you speak. I will teach you what to do. 16He will speak to the people for you. He will be like your mouth. And you will be like God to him. 17But take this walking stick in your hand. You will be able to do signs with it.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro. He said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt. I want to see if any of them are still alive.”
Jethro said, “Go. I hope everything goes well with you.”
19The Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt. All those who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20So Moses got his wife and sons. He put them on a donkey. Together they started back to Egypt. And he took the walking stick in his hand. It was the stick God would use in a powerful way.
21The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “When you return to Egypt, do all the amazing things I have given you the power to do. Do them in the sight of Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn. He will not let the people go. 22Then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says, “Israel is like an oldest son to me. 23I told you, ‘Let my son go. Then he will be able to worship me.’ But you refused to let him go. So I will kill your oldest son.” ’ ”
24On the way to Egypt, Moses stopped for the night. There the Lord met him and was about to kill him. 25But Zipporah got a knife made out of flint. She circumcised her son with it. Then she touched Moses’ feet with the skin she had cut off. “Surely, you are a husband who has forced me to spill my son’s blood,” she said. 26So the Lord didn’t kill Moses. When she said “husband who has forced me to spill my son’s blood,” she was talking about circumcision.
27The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to see Moses.” So Aaron greeted Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say. Moses also told him about all the signs the Lord had commanded him to do.
29Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of Israel together. 30Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs in the sight of the people. 31And they believed. They heard that the Lord was concerned about them. He had seen their suffering. So they bowed down and worshiped him.
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