Exodus — Chapter 4

But Moses spoke up and said, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me, but say: GOD did not appear toaappear to Or “communicate with.” you?”

GOD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”“A rod.”

“Cast it on the ground.”He cast it on the ground and it became a snake; and Moses recoiled from it.

Then GOD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grasp it by the tail”—he put out his hand and seized it, and it became a rod in his hand—

“that they may believe that the ETERNAL, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, did appear tobappear to See note at v. 1. you.”

GOD said to him further, “Put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, his hand was encrusted with snowy scales!cscales Cf. Lev. 13.2–3.

And [God] said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.”—He put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out of his bosom, there it was again like the rest of his body.—

“And if they do not believe you or pay heed to the first sign, they will believe the second.

And if they are not convinced by both these signs and still do not heed you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and it—the water that you take from the Nile—will turn to blood on the dry ground.”

But Moses said to GOD, “Please, O my Sovereign, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

And GOD said to him, “Who gives humans speech? Who makes them dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, GOD?

Now go, and I will be with you as you speak and will instruct you what to say.”

But he said, “Please, O my Sovereign, make someone else Your agent.”dmake someone else Your agent Lit. “send through whomever You will send.”

GOD became angry with Moses and said, “There is your brother Aaron the Levite. He, I know, speaks readily. Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see you.

You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth—I will be with you and with him as you speak, and tell both of you what to do—

and he shall speak for you to the people. Thus he shall serve as your spokesman, with you playing the role of Godeplaying the role of God Cf. 7.1. to him.

And take with you this rod, with which you shall perform the signs.”

Moses went back to his father-in-law JetherfJether I.e., Jethro. and said to him, “Let me go back to my kinsfolk in Egypt and see how they are faring.”ghow they are faring Lit. “whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

GOD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who sought to kill you are dead.”

So Moses took his wife and sons, mounted them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God with him.

And GOD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says GOD: Israel is My first-born son.

I have said to you, “Let My son go, that he may worship Me,” yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your first-born son.’”

At a night encampment on the way, GODhGOD This label may refer to an angel, as acting on God’s behalf. So Rashbam, Ibn Ezra; cf. Septuagint, Targum. encountered him and sought to kill him.

iMeaning of verses uncertain. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!”

And when [God] let him alone, she added, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.”

GOD said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” He went and met him at the mountain of God, and he kissed him.

Moses told Aaron about all the things that GOD had committed to him and all the signs about which he had been instructed.

Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.

Aaron repeated all the words that GOD had spoken to Moses, and he performed the signs in the sight of those assembled,

and the assembly was convinced. When they heard that GOD had taken note of the Israelites and had seen their plight, they bowed low in homage.