New Living Translation

English Standard Version

1But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?”

1Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”

2Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

2The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”

3“Throw it down on the ground,” the LORD told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

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

4Then the LORD told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.

4But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—

5“Perform this sign,” the LORD told him. “Then they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really 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.”

6Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease.

6Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

7“Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the LORD said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.

7Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

8The LORD said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign.

8“If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.

9And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”

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

10But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

10But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”

11Then the LORD asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD?

11Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

12Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

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

13But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

13But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

14Then the LORD became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you.

14Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

15Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do.

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

16Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say.

16He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.

17And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” Moses Returns to Egypt

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

18So Moses went back home to Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt,” Moses said. “I don’t even know if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

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

19Before Moses left Midian, the LORD said to him, “Return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died.”

19And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back 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 the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.

20So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

21And the LORD told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

21And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

22Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.

22Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son,

23I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’”

23and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”

24On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted him and was about to kill him.

24At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.

25But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

25Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

26(When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the LORD left him alone.

26So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

27Now the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go out into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain of God, and he embraced him.

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

28Moses then told Aaron everything the LORD had commanded him to say. And he told him about the miraculous signs the LORD had commanded him to perform.

28And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.

29Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together.

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

30Aaron told them everything the LORD had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched.

30Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.

31Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

31And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.