Exodus 4

Modern

Literal

Moses’ Staff

¹Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

¹And Moses answered and said, “And if they will not give credence to me and they will not listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘YHWH has not appeared to you.’”

²And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

²And YHWH said to him, “What is in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.”

³“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake,^a and he ran from it.

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

⁴“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

⁴And YHWH said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and seize it by its tail”—and he stretched out his hand and grasped hold of it, and it became a staff in his palm—

⁵“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁵“so that they may believe that YHWH, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Moses’ Hand

⁶Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.”^a So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,^b white as snow.

⁶And furthermore YHWH said to him, “Put now your hand into your bosom.” And he put his hand into his bosom, and he took it out, and behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.

⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD.

So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

⁷And He said, “Return your hand into your bosom.” And he returned his hand into his bosom and he took it out from his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his flesh.

⁸And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.

⁸“And it shall come to pass, if they will not give credence to you and they will not listen to the voice of the first sign, then they will give credence to the voice of the latter sign.

⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

⁹And it shall come to pass, if they will not give credence even to these two signs and will not listen to your voice, then you shall take from the waters of the River and you shall pour them on the dry land, and it will happen that the waters which you take from the River, they will become blood on the dry land.”

The Appointment of Aaron

¹⁰“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹⁰And Moses said to YHWH, “Please, my Lord, I am not a man of words, neither from yesterday nor from the day before yesterday nor from the time You have spoken to Your servant. For I am slow of mouth and slow of tongue.”

¹¹And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

¹¹And YHWH said to him, “Who has made a mouth for the man? Or who makes mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, YHWH?

¹²Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

¹²And now go, and I—I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you shall say.”

¹³But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹³And he said, “Please, my Lord, send, please, by the hand of another whom You send.”

¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁴And the anger of YHWH burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he surely speaks. And also, behold, he is coming out to meet you, and he will see you, and he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.

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

¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.

¹⁶And he will speak for you to the people. And it shall come to pass that he shall be to you as a mouth, and you shall be to him as God.

¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

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

Moses Leaves for Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro^a and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.”

“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

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

¹⁹Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.”

¹⁹And YHWH said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

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

²¹The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden^a his heart so that he will not let the people go.

²¹And YHWH said to Moses, “When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders that I have put in your hand, and you do them before the face of Pharaoh. And I will strengthen his heart, and he will not send out. the people

²²Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,

²²And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says YHWH: My son, My firstborn is Israel.

²³and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”

²³And I say to you, send out My son, that he may serve Me. And if you refuse to send him out, behold, I am killing your son, your firstborn.’”

²⁴Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses^a and was about to kill him.

²⁴And it came to pass on the way, at the lodging place, that YHWH met him and sought to put him to death.

²⁵But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet.^a “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

²⁵And Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, and she touched it to his feet and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

²⁶So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

²⁶And He let him alone. (At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.)

The People Believe Moses and Aaron

²⁷Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

²⁷And YHWH said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” And he went, and he met him on the mountain of God, and he kissed him.

²⁸And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.

²⁸And Moses told Aaron all the words of YHWH with which He had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,

²⁹And Moses went—and Aaron—and they gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel.

³⁰and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses.

And Moses performed the signs before the people,

³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words that YHWH had spoken to Moses. And he did the signs before the eyes of the people,

³¹and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

³¹and the people believed; and they heard that YHWH had visited the sons of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction. And they bowed and worshiped.