[1] Then 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.'" [2] The
LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." [3] And he
said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a
serpent; and Moses fled from it. [4] But the LORD said to Moses, "Put out
your hand, and take it by the tail"-- so he put out his hand and caught it,
and it became a rod in his hand-- [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." [6] Again, the LORD said to him, "Put your
hand into your bosom." And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took
it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. [7] Then God said,
"Put your hand back into your bosom." So he put his hand back into his
bosom; and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of
his flesh. [8] "If they will not believe you," God said, "or heed the first
sign, they may believe the latter sign. [9] If they will not believe even
these two signs or heed your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile
and pour it upon the dry ground; and the water which you shall take from
the Nile will become blood upon the dry ground." [10] But Moses said to the
LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast
spoken to thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue." [11] Then
the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb, or
deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? [12] Now therefore go,
and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." [13] But
he said, "Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some other person." [14] Then 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; and behold,
he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his
heart. [15] And you 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 what you
shall do. [16] He shall speak for you to the people; and he shall be a
mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. [17] And you shall take in
your hand this rod, with which you shall do the signs." [18] Moses went
back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back, I pray,
to my kinsmen in Egypt and see whether they are still alive." And Jethro
said to Moses, "Go in peace." [19] And the LORD said to Moses in Mid'ian,
"Go back to Egypt; for all the men who were seeking your life are dead."
[20] So Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on an ass, and went
back to the land of Egypt; and in his hand Moses took the rod of God. [21]
And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do
before Pharaoh all the miracles which I have put in your power; but I will
harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. [22] And you shall
say to Pharaoh, `Thus says the LORD, Israel is my first-born son, [23] and
I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me"; if you refuse to let
him go, behold, I will slay your first-born son.'" [24] At a lodging place
on the way the LORD met him and sought to kill him. [25] Then Zippo'rah
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] So he let
him alone. Then it was that she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood,"
because of the circumcision. [27] The 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. [28] And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with
which he had sent him, and all the signs which he had charged him to do.
[29] Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the
people of Israel. [30] And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had
spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. [31] And 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.