Exodus 4

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 Responding, Moses said, “They will not believe me, and they will not listen to my voice, but they will say: ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”
2 The LORD therefore asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he answered.	2 Therefore, he said to him, “What is that you hold in your hand?” He answered, “A staff.”
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 snake, so that Moses fled away.
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, “Reach out your hand, and take hold of its tail.” He reached out his hand and took hold, and it was turned into a staff.
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 “So may they believe,” he said, “that the Lord 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 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 your hand into your bosom.” And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it out leprous, resembling 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 “Put your hand back,” he said, “into your bosom.” He put it back and brought it out again, and it was like the rest of his 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 you,” he said, “and will not listen to the sermon of the first sign, then they will believe the word of the subsequent 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 believe even these two signs, and they will not listen to your voice: take from the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land, and whatever you will have drawn from the river will 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 beg you, O Lord, I was not eloquent yesterday or the day before. And from the time that you have spoken to your servant, I have a greater 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 the mouth of man? And who has formed the mute and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Was it 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 on, therefore, and I will be in your mouth. And I will teach you what you shall say.”
13 Yet he insisted, "If you please, Lord, send someone else!"	13 But he said, “I beg you, O Lord, send whomever else you would 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 your brother. I know that he is eloquent. Behold, he is going out to meet you, and seeing you, he will rejoice in 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 your mouth and in his mouth, and I will reveal to 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 will speak for you to the people, and he will be your mouth. But you will be with him in those things that pertain to God.
17 Take this staff in your hand; with it you are to perform the signs."	17 Also, take this staff into your hand; with it you will accomplish 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 forth, and he returned to Jethro, his father in law, and he said to him, “I shall go and return to my brothers in Egypt, so that I may see if they are still 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 so the Lord said to Moses in Midian: “Go, and return to Egypt. For all those who sought your life have died.”
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 Therefore, Moses took his wife and his sons, and he placed them upon a donkey, and he returned into Egypt, carrying the staff 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 to Egypt: “See that you accomplish, in the sight of Pharaoh, all the wonders that I have placed in your hand. I will harden his heart, and he will not release the people.
22 So you shall say to Pharaoh: Thus says the LORD: Israel is my son, my first-born.	22 And you shall say to him: ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.
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 you: Release my son, so that he may serve me. And you were not willing to release him. Behold, I will put to death your firstborn son.’ ”
24 On the journey, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord came upon Moses and would have killed him.	24 And while he was on the journey, at an inn, the Lord met him, and he was willing to kill 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 For this reason, Zipporah took a very sharp stone, and she circumcised the foreskin of her son, and she touched his feet, and she said, “You are a bloody spouse 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 released him, after she had said, “You are a bloody spouse,” 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 Then the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” And he went directly to meet him on the mountain of God, and he 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 explained to Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs which he had commanded.
29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.	29 And they arrived at the same time, and they gathered together all the elders of the sons 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 accomplished the signs in the sight of 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 sons of Israel, and that he had looked with favor upon their affliction. And falling prostrate, they worshiped.