Exodus 4
1 Moses/I replied, “But what if [the Israeli people] (do not believe me/are not convinced) or not do what I tell them? What if they say, ‘Yahweh did not appear to you!’”
Then Moses answered, and said, But lo, they will not beleeue me, nor hearken vnto my voyce: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared vnto thee.
2 Yahweh said to him/me, “[Look at] that thing you are holding in your hand. What is it?” He/I replied, “A (walking stick/shepherd’s stick).”
And the Lord said vnto him, What is that in thine hande? And he answered, A rod.
3 He said, “Throw it down on the ground!” So, he/I threw it on the ground, and it became a snake! And he/I ran/jumped away from it.
Then said he, Cast it on the ground. So he cast it on the grounde, and it was turned into a serpent: and Moses fled from it.
4 But Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Reach down and pick it up by its tail!” So he/I reached down and caught it, and [when he/I picked it up], it became a stick in his/my hand [again.]
Againe the Lord saide vnto Moses, Put foorth thine hand, and take it by the tayle. Then he put foorth his hande and caught it, and it was turned into a rod in his hand.
5 Yahweh said, “[Do the same thing in front of the Israeli people], in order that they may believe that [I], Yahweh God, the one Abraham and Isaac and Jacob worshiped, truly appeared to you.”
Do this that they may beleeue, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Iaakob hath appeared vnto thee.
6 Yahweh spoke to Moses/me again, saying “Put your hand inside your robe [MTY]!” He/I did that. And when he/I took it out again, [surprisingly], his/my hand was white. It had a skin disease [that made it] as white as snow.
And the Lord saide furthermore vnto him, Thrust nowe thine hand into thy bosome. And he thrust his hand into his bosome, and when he tooke it out againe, behold, his hand was leprous as snowe.
7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your robe [MTY]!” So he/I did that, and when he/I took it out again, surprisingly, it was normal again, just like the rest of his/my body!
Moreouer he said, Put thine hand into thy bosome againe. So he put his hande into his bosome againe, and pluckt it out of his bosome, and behold, it was turned againe as his other flesh.
8 God said, “[You can do that in front of the Israeli people, too]. If they do not pay attention to what you say because of [seeing] the first miracle, they will (believe [you/be convinced) when you perform] the second miracle.
So shall it be, if they wil not beleeue thee, neither obey the voyce of ye first signe, yet shall they beleeue for the voyce of the seconde signe.
9 If they do not believe you or do what you say, even [after you perform] those two miracles, get some water from the Nile [River] and pour it on the ground. [When you do that], the water from the river that you pour on the ground will become blood [MTY] (OR, [red like] blood).”
But if they will not yet beleeue these two signes, neither obey vnto thy voyce, then shalt thou take of the water of the riuer, and powre it vpon the drie lande: so the water which thou shalt take out of the riuer, shalbe turned to blood vpon the drie land.
10 Moses/I replied, “O Yahweh! I am not an eloquent [speaker]! I was not an eloquent speaker before, and I have not become one since you started talking to me! I am not a good speaker [MTY], and I speak very slowly.”
But Moses said vnto the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither at any time haue bene, nor yet since thou hast spoken vnto thy seruant: but I am slowe of speach and slowe of tongue.
11 Then Yahweh said to him/me, “[You seem to forget] who it is that makes people able to speak [RHQ]! Who is it that enables people to be unable to speak or unable to hear, or able to see or not to see? It is I, Yahweh [RHQ]!
Then the Lord said vnto him, Who hath giuen the mouth to man? or who hath made the domme, or the deafe, or him that seeth, or the blinde? haue not I the Lord?
12 So start going [to Egypt], and I will help you to speak [MTY], and I will tell you what you should say.”
Therefore goe nowe, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say.
13 But he/I replied, “O, Yahweh, I ask you, please send someone else [instead]!”
But he saide, Oh my Lord, sende, I pray thee, by the hande of him, whome thou shouldest sende.
14 Then Yahweh became very angry with Moses/me. He said, “[What about] your [older] brother Aaron, who is [also] a descendant of Levi? I know that he is a very good/eloquent speaker. He is actually on his way here [right now], and he will be very happy to see you.
Then the Lord was verie angrie with Moses, and said, Doe not I know Aaron thy brother the Leuite, that he himselfe shall speake? for loe, he commeth also foorth to meete thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
15 You can talk to him and tell him what to say [MTY], and I will help both of you [SYN] to know what to say [MTY]. And I will tell you both what you should do.
Therefore thou shalt speake vnto him, and put the wordes in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye ought to doe.
16 He will speak for you to the [Israeli] people. He will be (your spokesman/as though he was your mouth) [MET], and you will be to him as though you are [his] god.
And he shall be thy spokesman vnto the people: and he shall be, euen he shall be as thy mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God.
17 [Be sure] to take with you the walking/shepherd’s stick [that is in your hand], because you will perform miracles with it.”
Moreouer thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do miracles.
18 Moses/I returned to his/my father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to Egypt, to see my fellow Israelis there. I want to know if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses/me, “Go, and may [God give you inner] peace.”
Therefore Moses went and returned to Iethro his father in lawe, and said vnto him, I pray thee, let me goe, and returne to my brethren, which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet aliue. Then Iethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
19 Yahweh said to Moses/me [before he/I left] Midian, “You can [safely] return to Egypt, because the men who were wanting to kill you [MTY] are [now] dead.”
(For the Lord had said vnto Moses in Midian, Goe, returne to Egypt: for they are all dead which went about to kill thee)
20 So Moses/I took his/my wife and sons and put them on donkeys, and they/we returned to Egypt. And Moses/I took in his/my hand the stick that God [told him/me to take along].
Then Moses tooke his wife, and his sonnes, and put them on an asse, and returned towarde the lande of Egypt, and Moses tooke the rod of God in his hand.
21 Yahweh said to Moses/me, “When you return to Egypt, be sure to perform all the miracles that I have given you power [to do], while the king is watching. But I will make him stubborn [IDM], with the result that he will not let the Israeli people leave [Egypt].
And the Lord saide vnto Moses, When thou art entred and come into Egypt againe, see that thou doe all the wonders before Pharaoh, which I haue put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, and he shall not let the people goe.
22 Then say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh says: “The Israeli [people] [MTY] are [as dear to] me as firstborn sons [MET].
Then thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my sonne, euen my first borne.
23 I told you to let my people [MTY] leave [Egypt], in order that they may worship me [in the desert]. If you refuse to let them go, I warn you, I will kill your firstborn son!”’”
Wherefore I say to thee, Let my sonne go, that he may serue me: if thou refuse to let him goe, beholde, I will slay thy sonne, euen thy first borne.
24 [One night], as they were camping on the way [to Egypt], Yahweh appeared to Moses/me. He wanted/threatened to kill Moses/me [for disobeying his command that boys/sons be circumcised].
And as he was by the waye in the ynne, the Lord met him, and would haue killed him.
25 Then [his/my wife] Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised her son. Then she touched the boy’s feet (OR, genitals) with the piece of skin [she had cut off], and she said, “The blood [which flowed when I circumcised you] will protect you [from being harmed by Yahweh] [MET].”
Then Zipporah tooke a sharpe knife, and cut away the foreskinne of her sonne, and cast it at his feete, and said, Thou art indeede a bloody husband vnto me.
26 She said to him, “You are safe now [MET] because you have been circumcised.” So Yahweh did not harm her son.
So he departed from him. Then she saide, O bloodie husband (because of the circumcision)
27 Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet/see Moses!” So he went [there from Egypt] and met him/me at [Sinai], the mountain dedicated to God, and [greeted him/me by] kissing him/me [on the cheek].
Then the Lord saide vnto Aaron, Goe meete Moses in the wildernesse. And he went and mette him in the Mount of God, and kissed him.
28 Moses/I told Aaron everything that Yahweh had said to him/me when he told him/me to return to Egypt. He/I also told Aaron about all the miracles that Yahweh told him/me to perform.
Then Moses tolde Aaron all the wordes of the Lord, who had sent him, and all the signes wherewith he had charged him.
29 [So Aaron and Moses/I] returned [to Egypt]. There they/we gathered together all the Israeli elders/leaders.
So went Moses and Aaron, and gathered all the Elders of the children of Israel.
30 Aaron told them everything that Yahweh had told Moses/me, and Aaron performed [all] the miracles as the people watched.
And Aaron told all the wordes, which the Lord had spoken vnto Moses, and he did the miracles in the sight of the people,
31 They believed [that what they/we were saying was true]. When they heard that Yahweh had seen how the Israeli people were being cruelly oppressed and that he was going to help them, they bowed down and worshiped [Yahweh].
And the people beleeued, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and had looked vpon their tribulation, they bowed downe, and worshipped.
