Exodus 4

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW JERUSALEM
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.	1 Moses replied as fol ows, 'But suppose they wil not believe me or listen to my words, and say to me,"Yahweh has not appeared to you"?'
2 Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod.	2 Yahweh then said, 'What is that in your hand?' 'A staff,' he said.
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.	3 'Throw it on the ground,' said Yahweh. Moses threw it on the ground; the staff turned into a snake andMoses recoiled from it.
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.	4 Yahweh then said to Moses, 'Reach out your hand and catch it by the tail.' He reached out his hand,caught it, and in his hand it turned back into a staff.
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.	5 'Thus they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaacand the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.'
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.	6 Next, Yahweh said to him, 'Put your hand inside your tunic.' He put his hand inside his tunic, then drewit out again: and his hand was diseased, white as snow.
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.	7 Yahweh then said, 'Put your hand back inside your tunic.' He put his hand back inside his tunic andwhen he drew it out, there it was restored, just like the rest of his flesh.
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.	8 'Even so: should they not believe you nor be convinced by the first sign, the second sign wil convincethem;
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.	9 but should they not be convinced by either of these two signs and refuse to listen to what you say, youare to take some water from the River and pour it on the ground, and the water you have taken from the Riverwil turn to blood on the dry land.'
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.	10 Moses said to Yahweh, 'Please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, even since you have spoken toyour servant, for I am slow and hesitant of speech.'
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?	11 'Who gave a person a mouth?' Yahweh said to him. 'Who makes a person dumb or deaf, gives sight ormakes blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?
12 Go therefore and I will be in thy mouth: and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak.	12 Now go, I shall help you speak and instruct you what to say.'
13 But he said: I beseech thee, Lord send whom thou wilt send.	13 'Please, my Lord,' Moses replied, 'send anyone you decide to send!'
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.	14 At this, Yahweh's anger kindled against Moses, and he said to him, 'There is your brother Aaron theLevite, is there not? I know that he is a good speaker. Here he comes to meet you. When he sees you, his heartwil be full of joy.
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.	15 You will speak to him and tel him what message to give. I shal help you speak, and him too, andinstruct you what to do.
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.	16 He will speak to the people in your place; he wil be your mouthpiece, and you wil be as the godinspiring him.
17 And take this rod in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.	17 And take this staff in your hand; with this you will perform the signs.'
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.	18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, 'Give me leave to return to my kinsmen inEgypt and see if they are stil alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, 'Go in peace.'
19 And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian: Go, and return into Egypt: for they are all dead that sought thy life.	19 Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, 'Go, return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kil you are dead.'
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.	20 So Moses took his wife and his son and, putting them on a donkey, started back for Egypt; and Mosestook the staff of God in his hand.
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.	21 Yahweh said to Moses, 'Think of the wonders I have given you power to perform, once you are back inEgypt! You are to perform them before Pharaoh, but I myself shal make him obstinate, and he wil not let thepeople go.
22 And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn.	22 You will then say to Pharaoh, "This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my first-born son.
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.	23 I told you: Let my son go and worship me; but since you refuse to let him go, well then! I shall put yourfirst-born son to death." '
24 And when he was in his journey, in the inn, the Lord met him, and would have killed him.	24 On the journey, when he had halted for the night, Yahweh encountered him and tried to kil him.
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.	25 Then Zipporah, taking up a flint, cut off her son's foreskin and with it touched his feet and said, 'Youare my blood-bridegroom!'
26 And he let him go after she had said A bloody spouse art thou to me, because of the circumcision.	26 So he let him go. She said, 'Blood-bridegroom' then, with reference to the circumcision.
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.	27 Yahweh said to Aaron, 'Go into the desert to meet Moses.' So he went, and met him at the mountainof God and kissed 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.	28 Moses then told Aaron al that Yahweh had said when sending him and al the signs he had orderedhim to perform.
29 And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel.	29 Moses and Aaron then went and gathered al the elders of the Israelites together,
30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people,	30 and Aaron repeated everything that Yahweh had said to Moses, and in the sight of the peopleperformed the signs.
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.	31 The people were convinced, and they rejoiced that Yahweh had visited the Israelites and seen theirmisery, and they bowed to the ground in worship.