Shemot 4
4
1And Moshe answered and said, But, what if they will not believe me, nor pay heed unto my voice but will say, Hashem hath not appeared unto thee.
2And Hashem said unto him, What is that in thine yad? And he said, A matteh (a rod, staff).
3And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a nachash; and Moshe fled from before it.
4And Hashem said unto Moshe, Put forth thine yad, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his yad, and caught it, and it became a matteh in his yad;
5That they may believe that Hashem Elohei Avotam, Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak, and Elohei Ya'akov, hath appeared unto thee.
6And Hashem said furthermore unto him, Put now thine yad into thy kheyk. And he put his yad into his kheyk; and when he took it out, hinei, his yad was leprous as snow.
7And He said, Put thine yad into thy kheyk again. And he put his yad into his kheyk again; and plucked it out of his kheyk, and, hinei, it was turned again as his other basar.
8And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither pay heed to the voice of haOt Harishon, that they will believe the voice of haOt haAcharon.
9And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two otot, neither pay heed unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the mayim of the Nile, and pour it upon the yabashah (dry land); and the mayim which thou takest out of the Nile shall become dahm upon the yabashah.
10And Moshe said unto Hashem, O Adonoi, I am not an ish devarim, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy eved; but I am slow of speech, and of a slow lashon.
11And Hashem said unto him, Who hath made manʼs peh (mouth)? Or who maketh dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Hashem?
12Now therefore go, and Eh-heh-yeh (I will be) with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
13And he said, O Adonoi, send, now, by the yad of him whom Thou wilt send.
14And the Af Hashem was kindled against Moshe, and He said, Is there not Aharon thy ach the Levi? I know that he can speak well. And also, hinei, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his lev.
15And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth; and Eh-heh-yeh (I will be) with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
16And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of Elohim.
17And thou shalt take this matteh in thine yad, wherewith thou shalt do haOtot.
18And Moshe went and returned to Yitro his khoten (father-in-law), and said unto him, Let me go, now, and return unto my achim which are in Mitzrayim, and see whether they be yet alive. And Yitro said to Moshe, Lech l'shalom (go in peace).
19And Hashem said unto Moshe in Midyan, Go, shuv (return) into Mitzrayim; for all the anashim are dead which sought thy life.
20And Moshe took his isha and his banim, and set them upon a donkey, and he returned to Eretz Mitzrayim; and matteh HaElohim in his yad.
21And Hashem said unto Moshe, When thou goest to return into Mitzrayim, see that thou do all those mofetim before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine yad: but I will harden his lev, that he shall not let HaAm go.
22And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Hashem, Yisroel is beni (My son), even My bechor (first-born):
23And I say unto thee, Let beni (My son) go, that he may serve Me: and if thou refuse to let him go, hinei, I will slay thy ben, even thy bechor.
24And it came to pass on the derech at the malon, that Hashem met him, and sought to kill him.
25Then Tzipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the orlat ben (foreskin of son) of her, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a choson damim (a bridegroom of blood) art thou to me.
26So He let him go; then she said, A choson damim thou art, because of the circumcision.#4:26 i.e. [bris] milah
27And Hashem said to Aharon, Go into the midbar to meet Moshe. And he went, and met him in the Har HaElohim, and kissed him.
28And Moshe told Aharon kol divrei Hashem who had sent him, and all haOtot He had commanded him.
29And Moshe and Aharon went and assembled together kol Ziknei Bnei Yisroel;
30And Aharon spoke all hadevarim which Hashem had spoken unto Moshe; and he did haOtot before the eyes of HaAm.
31And HaAm believed; and when they heard that Hashem had visited the Bnei Yisroel, and that He had looked upon their oni, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
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Shemot 4: TOJB2011
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.
Exodus 4
4
Signs of power
1Then Moses replied, “But what if they don’t believe me or pay attention to me? They might say to me, ‘The LORD didn’t appear to you!’”
2The LORD said to him, “What’s that in your hand?”
Moses replied, “A shepherd’s rod.”
3The LORD said, “Throw it down on the ground.” So Moses threw it on the ground, and it turned into a snake. Moses jumped back from it. 4Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out and grab the snake by the tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a rod in his hand. 5“Do this so that they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God has in fact appeared to you.”
6Again, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took his hand out, his hand had a skin disease flaky like snow. 7Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand back inside his coat. When he took it back out again, the skin of his hand had returned to normal. 8“If they won’t believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second sign. 9If they won’t believe even these two signs or pay attention to you, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on dry ground. The water that you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the dry ground.”
10But Moses said to the LORD, “My Lord, I’ve never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you’ve been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue.”
11Then the LORD said to him, “Who gives people the ability to speak? Who’s responsible for making them unable to speak or hard of hearing, sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, the LORD? 12Now go! I’ll help you speak, and I’ll teach you what you should say.”
13But Moses said, “Please, my Lord, just send someone else.”
14Then the LORD got angry at Moses and said, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak very well. He’s on his way out to meet you now, and he’s looking forward to seeing you. 15Speak to him and tell him what he’s supposed to say. I’ll help both of you speak, and I’ll teach both of you what to do. 16Aaron will speak for you to the people. He’ll be a spokesperson for you, and you will be like God for him. 17Take this shepherd’s rod with you too so that you can do the signs.”
Moses goes back to Egypt
18Moses 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.”
19The LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt because everyone there who wanted to kill you has died.” 20So 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.
21The 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. 22Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my oldest son. 23I 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.’”
24During their journey, as they camped overnight, the LORD met Moses#4.24 Or him and tried to kill him. 25But Zipporah took a sharp-edged flint stone and cut off her son’s foreskin. Then she touched Moses’ genitals#4.25 Or his feet with it, and she said, “You are my bridegroom because of bloodshed.” 26So the LORD let him alone. At that time, she announced, “A bridegroom because of bloodshed by circumcision.”
27The 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. 28Moses told Aaron what the LORD had said about his mission and all the signs that the LORD had told him to do. 29Then Moses and Aaron called together all the Israelite elders. 30Aaron told them everything that the LORD had told to Moses, and he performed the signs in front of the people. 31The people believed. When they heard that the LORD had paid attention to the Israelites and had seen their oppression, they bowed down and worshipped.
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