Exodus 4

¹Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord

²So the Lord He said, “A rod.”

³And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.

⁴Then the Lord

⁵“that they may believe that the Lord

⁶Furthermore the Lord

⁷And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.

⁸“Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign.

⁹And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰Then Moses said to the Lord

¹¹So the Lord

¹²Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴So the anger of the Lord

¹⁵Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.

¹⁷And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

¹⁸So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹Now the Lord

²⁰Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹And the Lord

²²Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord

²³So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

²⁴And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord

²⁵Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!”

²⁶So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.

²⁷And the Lord

²⁸So Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.

³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord

³¹So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord