Exodus 4

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 "But," objected Moses, "suppose they will not believe me, nor listen to my plea? For they may say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'"	1 Moses answered and said: They will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared to thee.
2 The LORD therefore asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he answered.	2 Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod.
3 The LORD then said, "Throw it on the ground." When he threw it on the ground it was changed into a serpent, and Moses shied away from it.	3 And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent: so that Moses fled from it.
4 "Now, put out your hand," the LORD said to him, "and take hold of its tail." So he put out his hand and laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.	4 And the Lord said: Put out thy hand and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod.
5 "This will take place so that they may believe," he continued, "that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, did appear to you."	5 That they may believe, saith he, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee.
6 Again the LORD said to him, "Put your hand in your bosom." He put it in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise his hand was leprous, like snow.	6 And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow.
7 The LORD then said, "Now, put your hand back in your bosom." Moses put his hand back in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise it was again like the rest of his body.	7 And he said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like the other flesh.
8 "If they will not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, they should believe the message of the second.	8 If they will not believe thee, saith he, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign.
9 And if they will not believe even these two signs, nor heed your plea, take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water you take from the river will become blood on the dry land."	9 But if they will not even believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice: take of the river water, and pour it out upon the dry land, and whatsoever thou drawest out of the river shall be turned into blood.
10 Moses, however, said to the LORD, "If you please, LORD, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue."	10 Moses said: I beseech thee, Lord. I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before: and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue.
11 The LORD said to him, "Who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the LORD?	11 The Lord said to him: Who made man's mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? did not I?
12 Go, then! It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say."	12 Go therefore and I will be in thy mouth: and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak.
13 Yet he insisted, "If you please, Lord, send someone else!"	13 But he said: I beseech thee, Lord send whom thou wilt send.
14 Then the LORD became angry with Moses and said, "Have you not your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know that he is an eloquent speaker. Besides, he is now on his way to meet you.	14 The Lord being angry at Moses, said Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and seeing thee shall be glad at heart.
15 When he sees you, his heart will be glad. You are to speak to him, then, and put the words in his mouth. I will assist both you and him in speaking and will teach the two of you what you are to do.	15 Speak to him, and put my words in his mouth: and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will shew you what you must do.
16 He shall speak to the people for you: he shall be your spokesman, and you shall be as God to him.	16 He shall speak in thy stead to the people, and shall be thy mouth: but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God.
17 Take this staff in your hand; with it you are to perform the signs."	17 And take this rod in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.
18 After this Moses returned to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go back, please, to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see whether they are still living." Jethro replied, "Go in peace."	18 Moses went his way, and returned to Jethro his father in law and said to him: I will go and return to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be yet alive. And Jethro said to him: Go in peace.
19 In Midian the LORD said to Moses, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead."	19 And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian: Go, and return into Egypt: for they are all dead that sought thy life.
20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, and started back to the land of Egypt, with them riding the ass. The staff of God he carried with him.	20 Moses therefore took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass: and returned into Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand.
21 The LORD said to him, "On your return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put in your power. I will make him obstinate, however, so that he will not let the people go.	21 And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.
22 So you shall say to Pharaoh: Thus says the LORD: Israel is my son, my first-born.	22 And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn.
23 Hence I tell you: Let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, I warn you, I will kill your son, your first-born."	23 I have said to thee: Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou wouldst not let him go: behold I will kill thy son, thy firstborn.
24 On the journey, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord came upon Moses and would have killed him.	24 And when he was in his journey, in the inn, the Lord met him, and would have killed him.
25 But Zipporah took a piece of flint and cut off her son's foreskin and, touching his person, she said, "You are a spouse of blood to me."	25 Immediately Sephora took a very sharp stone, and circumcised the fore skin of her son, and touched his feet and said: A bloody spouse art thou to me.
26 Then God let Moses go. At that time she said, "A spouse of blood," in regard to the circumcision.	26 And he let him go after she had said A bloody spouse art thou to me, because of the circumcision.
27 The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he went, and when they met at the mountain of God, Aaron kissed him.	27 And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him.
28 Moses informed him of all the LORD had said in sending him, and of the various signs he had enjoined upon him.	28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs that he had commanded.
29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.	29 And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel.
30 Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses, and he performed the signs before the people.	30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people,
31 The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their affliction, they bowed down in worship.	31 And the people believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel: and that he had looked upon their affliction: and falling down they adored.