Exodus 4

1 And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord.

Moses answered and said: They will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared to thee.

2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.

Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod.

3 And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it.

And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent: so that Moses fled from it.

4 And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: (and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand: )

And the Lord said: Put out thy hand and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod.

5 So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.

That they may believe, saith he, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee.

6 Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow.

And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow.

7 And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. (And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.)

And he said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like the other flesh.

8 And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign.

If they will not believe thee, saith he, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign.

9 And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.

But if they will not even believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice: take of the river water, and pour it out upon the dry land, and whatsoever thou drawest out of the river shall be turned into blood.

10 And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.

Moses said: I beseech thee, Lord. I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before: and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue.

11 And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

The Lord said to him: Who made man’s mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? did not I?

12 So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.

Go therefore and I will be in thy mouth: and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak.

13 And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send.

But he said: I beseech thee, Lord send whom thou wilt send.

14 And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.

The Lord being angry at Moses, said Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and seeing thee shall be glad at heart.

15 Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.

Speak to him, and put my words in his mouth: and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will shew you what you must do.

16 And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.

He shall speak in thy stead to the people, and shall be thy mouth: but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God.

17 And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs.

And take this rod in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.

18 And Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my relations in Egypt and see if they are still living. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

Moses went his way, and returned to Jethro his father in law and said to him: I will go and return to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be yet alive. And Jethro said to him: Go in peace.

19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were attempting to take your life.

And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian: Go, and return into Egypt: for they are all dead that sought thy life.

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass and went back to the land of Egypt: and he took the rod of God in his hand.

Moses therefore took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass: and returned into Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go.

And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.

22 And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons:

And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn.

23 And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship; and you did not let him go: so now I will put the first of your sons to death.

I have said to thee: Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou wouldst not let him go: behold I will kill thy son, thy firstborn.

24 Now on the journey, at the night's resting-place, the Lord came in his way and would have put him to death.

And when he was in his journey, in the inn, the Lord met him, and would have killed him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cutting off the skin of her son's private parts, and touching his feet with it, she said, Truly you are a husband of blood to me.

Immediately Sephora took a very sharp stone, and circumcised the fore skin of her son, and touched his feet and said: A bloody spouse art thou to me.

26 So he let him go. Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision.

And he let him go after she had said A bloody spouse art thou to me, because of the circumcision.

27 And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the waste land and you will see Moses. So he went and came across Moses at the mountain of God, and gave him a kiss.

And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses gave Aaron an account of all the words of the Lord which he had sent him to say, and of all the signs which he had given him orders to do.

And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs that he had commanded.

29 Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel:

And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel.

30 And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people.

And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people,

31 And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.

And the people believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel: and that he had looked upon their affliction: and falling down they adored.