1. Moses replied to Yahweh, "What if they will not believe me or listen to me? Maybe they will say: 'That's not true. Yahweh did not appear to you."

2. Yahweh then asked him, "What is that in your right hand?" "A staff," he replied.

3. God said, "Throw it to the ground." He threw it and it became a serpent; and Moses drew back from it.

4. Yahweh said, "Take it by the tail." Moses took it and it was again a staff in his hand.

5. Then Yahweh said, "With such signs they may believe that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, appeared to you."

6. Again Yahweh said to him, "Put your hand on your chest." He put his hand on his chest and when he took it away his hand was covered with leprosy, white as snow.

7. And God said, "Put your hand back on your chest." So he put it back, and when he took it away again, his hand was healthy like the rest of his body.

8. Yahweh added, "If they don't believe you and are not convinced by the first sign, they will believe you when they see the second.

9. But if these two signs are not enough to make them believe you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the ground; and the water from the river will turn into blood."

10. Moses said to Yahweh, "But, my Lord, never have I been a fluent speaker either before or after you have spoken to me. I cannot find words to express what I want to say."

11. Yahweh said to him,"Who gave man a mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf, with sight or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?

12. Go now. I will be on your lips and will inspire what you say."

13. But Moses insisted, "My Lord, I pray you, why not send someone else?"

14. At this Yahweh became angry with Moses and said, "Haven't you Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know he speaks well. Look! He is coming to meet you,

15. and he will be glad when he sees you. You will speak to him and tell him what I have told you to say. And when you tell him, or when he speaks, I will be with you and teach you what you have to say.

16. Aaron will speak for you as a prophet speaks for his god.

17. And with this staff in your hand you will work miraculous signs."

18. Then Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, "I am going back to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace!"

19. Yahweh said to Moses in the land of Midian, "Go back to Egypt for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

20. Moses took with him his wife and his sons. He put them on a donkey and set off for Egypt, holding in his hand the staff of God.

21. Yahweh said to Moses, "You are returning to Egypt and you will perform all the miraculous signs that I have empowered you to do, in the presence of Pharaoh. I will, however, make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go.

22. You shall then say to Pharaoh: 'This is Yahweh's message: Israel is my firstborn son,

23. and I said to you: Let my son go that he may worship me. But you have refused to let him go and, because of this, I will take the life of your firstborn son."

24. At a lodging place on the way, the Angel of Yahweh approached Moses and tried to kill him.

25. But Zipporah took a flint stone and cut her son's foreskin and, with it, she touched the feet of Moses saying, "You are now my husband by blood!"

26. And the Angel left him. Zipporah said 'husband by blood' because of the circumcision.

27. Yahweh said to Aaron, "Go into the desert and meet your brother, Moses." So Aaron went and met him at the Mountain of God and kissed him.

28. Moses related to Aaron all that Yahweh had said to him and all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

29. Moses and Aaron assembled all the elders of the Israelites

30. and Aaron told them everything that Yahweh had said to Moses. He also performed all the signs before the people and they believed him.

31. When they heard that Yahweh had visited the people of Israel and had seen their suffering, they bowed to the ground and worshiped him.





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