Then Moses answered and said, but suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice. Suppose they say, the Lord has not appeared to you. So the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? He said, a rod.
And he said, cast it on the ground. So he cast it on the ground and it became the serpent. And Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, reach out your hand and take it by the tail.
And he reached out his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand. But they may believe the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. Furthermore, the Lord said to him, now put your hand in your bosom. And he put his hand in his bosom.
And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leperous, like snow. And he said, put your hand in your bosom again. So he put his hand in his bosom again and drew it out of his bosom. And behold, it was restored like his other flesh.
Then it will be if they do not believe you nor heed the message of the first sign, but they may believe the message of the latter sign. And it shall be if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land. Then Moses said to the Lord, oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.
So the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say. But he said, oh my Lord, please sin by the hand of whomever else you may sin.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, is not Aaron to leave out your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. So he shall be your spokesman to the people, and he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. And you shall take this rod in your hand with which you shall do these signs. So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt and see whether they are still alive.
And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace. Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, go, return to Egypt for all the men who sought your life or dead. Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
And the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. So I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me.
But if you few still let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn. And it came to pass on the way at the encampment that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zapura took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet and said, Surely you are a husband of blood to me. So he let him go.
Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him on the mountain of God and kissed him. So Moses told Aaron all of the words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him.
Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the side of the people. So the people believed when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Afterward, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord nor will I let Israel go. So they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us.
Please let us go three days journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. Then the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor. And Pharaoh said, Look, the people of the land are many now and you make them rest from their labor.
So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it for their idol.
Therefore they cry out saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let more work be laid on the men that they may labor in it and let them not regard false words. And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people saying, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go get yourself straw where you can find it.
Yet none of your work will be reduced. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt together, stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters forced them to hurry saying, Fulfill your work, your daily quota as when there was straw. Also the officers of the children of Israel whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had said over them were beaten and were asked, Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today as before?
Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh saying, Why are you dealing thus with your servants? There is no straw given to your servants and they say to us, Make brick and indeed your servants are beaten but the fault is in your own people. But he said, You are idle, idle. Therefore you say, Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.
Therefore go now and work, For no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble after it was said, You shall not reduce any bricks from your daily quota. Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them. And they said to them, Let the Lord look on you and judge because you have made us abhorrent in the side of Pharaoh and in the side of his servants to put a sword in their hand to kill us.
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it you have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people. Neither have you delivered your people at all.
Then the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. But with a strong hand, he will let them go, and with a strong hand, he will drive them out of his land. And God spoke to Moses and said, I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty.
But by my name, Lord, I was not known to them. I have also established my covenant with them, given them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage.
I am the Lord. So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel, but they did not heed Moses because of anguish, spirit, and cruel bondage. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Go in, tell Pharaoh the King of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, The children of Israel have not heeded me, how then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel, and for Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. These are the heads of their fathers' houses, the sons of Ruben, the first born of Israel, where Hanukk, Pa'lu, Hezrin, and Karmi. These are the families of Ruben. And the sons of Simeon were Jimmywell, Jamin, Ohed, Jakin, Zohar, and Sha'ul, the son of the Canaanite woman.
These are the families of Simeon. These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations. Gershen, Kohath, and Mirari, and the years of the life of Levi were 137. The sons of Gershen were Libni and Shimi according to their families.
And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Ishar, Hebron, and Uzio, and the years of the life of Kohath were 133. The sons of Mirari were Mali and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations. Now Amram took for himself Jokobed, his father's sister as wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses.
And the years of the life of Amram were 137. The sons of Ishar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri. The sons of Uzio, Rameshiel, Elzafan, and Zee-3. Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amenadab, sister of Naishon, as wife, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer, and Ithamar.
And the sons of Korah were Essir, Alcanah, and Abasaf. These are the families of the Korahites. Eliezer, Aaron's son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, and she bore him Phineas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites according to their families.
These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron. And it came to pass on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spoke to Moses saying, I am the Lord, speak to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, all that I say to you.
But Moses said before the Lord, behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me.