| Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Moses answered, "What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" | 1Moses answered again, "And if they do not believe me or pay attention to me, but say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you'?" |
| 2The LORD asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. | 2The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A staff." |
| 3"Throw it on the ground," he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it. | 3The LORD said, "Throw it to the ground." So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses ran from it. |
| 4The LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail." So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. | 4But the LORD said to Moses, "Put out your hand and grab it by the tail"--so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-- |
| 5"This will take place," he continued, "so that they will 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"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." |
| 6In addition the LORD said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow. | 6The LORD also said to him, "Put your hand into your robe." So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out--there was his hand, leprous like snow! |
| 7"Put your hand back inside your cloak," he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin. | 7He said, "Put your hand back into your robe." So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe--there it was, restored like the rest of his skin! |
| 8"If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. | 8"If they do not believe you or pay attention to the former sign, then they may believe the latter sign. |
| 9And if they don't believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground." | 9And if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground." |
| 10But Moses replied to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent--either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant--because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish." | 10Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." |
| 11The LORD said to him, "Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? | 11The LORD said to him, "Who gave a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? |
| 12Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say." | 12So now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you must say." |
| 13Moses said, "Please, Lord, send someone else." | 13But Moses said, "O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!" |
| 14Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses, and he said, "Isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. | 14Then the LORD became angry with Moses, and he said, "What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak very well. Moreover, he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. |
| 15You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do. | 15"So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what you must do. |
| 16He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him. | 16He will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were his God. |
| 17And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with." | 17You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs." |
| 18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." | 18So Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go, so that I may return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." |
| 19Now in Midian the LORD told Moses, "Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." | 19The LORD said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead." |
| 20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God's staff in his hand. | 20Then Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and headed back 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, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won't let the people go. | 21The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. |
| 22And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son. | 22You must say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is my son, my firstborn, |
| 23I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!" | 23and I said to you, 'Let my son go that he may serve me,' but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!"'" |
| 24On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the LORD confronted him and intended to put him to death. | 24Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the LORD met Moses and sought to kill him. |
| 25So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son's foreskin, threw it at Moses's feet, and said, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me!" | 25But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me." |
| 26So he let him alone. At that time she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," referring to the circumcision. | 26So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said, "A bridegroom of blood," referring to the circumcision.) |
| 27Now the LORD had said to Aaron, "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness." So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. | 27The LORD said to Aaron, "Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and greeted him with a kiss. |
| 28Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do. | 28Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him. |
| 29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. | 29Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders. |
| 30Aaron repeated everything the LORD had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. | 30Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people, |
| 31The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had paid attention to them and that he had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped. | 31and the people believed. When they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground. |
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