Signs of power
4 Then Moses replied, "But what if they don't believe me or pay attention to me? They might say to me, 'The Lord didn't appear to you!'"
2 The Lord said to him, "What's that in your hand?"
Moses replied, "A shepherd's rod."
3 The Lord said, "Throw it down on the ground." So Moses threw it on the ground, and it turned into a snake. Moses jumped back from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Reach out and grab the snake by the tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a rod in his hand. 5 "Do this so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, Abraham's God, Isaac's God, and Jacob's God has in fact appeared to you."
6 Again, the Lord said to Moses, "Put your hand inside your coat." So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took his hand out, his hand had a skin disease flaky like snow. 7 Then God said, "Put your hand back inside your coat." So Moses put his hand back inside his coat. When he took it back out again, the skin of his hand had returned to normal. 8 "If they won't believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second sign. 9 If they won't believe even these two signs or pay attention to you, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on dry ground. The water that you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the dry ground."
10 But Moses said to the Lord, "My Lord, I've never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you've been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue."
11 Then the Lord said to him, "Who gives people the ability to speak? Who's responsible for making them unable to speak or hard of hearing, sighted or blind? Isn't it I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I'll help you speak, and I'll teach you what you should say."
13 But Moses said, "Please, my Lord, just send someone else."
14 Then the Lord got angry at Moses and said, "What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak very well. He's on his way out to meet you now, and he's looking forward to seeing you. 15 Speak to him and tell him what he's supposed to say. I'll help both of you speak, and I'll teach both of you what to do. 16 Aaron will speak for you to the people. He'll be a spokesperson for you, and you will be like God for him. 17 Take this shepherd's rod with you too so that you can do the signs."
Moses goes back to Egypt
18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Please let me go back to my family in Egypt and see whether or not they are still living."
Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."
19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt because everyone there who wanted to kill you has died." 20 So Moses took his wife and his children, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. Moses also carried the shepherd's rod from God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you appear before Pharaoh and do all the amazing acts that I've given you the power to do. But I'll make him stubborn so that he won't let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the Lord says: Israel is my oldest son. 23 I said to you, "Let my son go so he could worship me." But you refused to let him go. As a result, now I'm going to kill your oldest son.'"
24 During their journey, as they camped overnight, the Lord met Moses and tried to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a sharp-edged flint stone and cut off her son's foreskin. Then she touched Moses' genitals with it, and she said, "You are my bridegroom because of bloodshed." 26 So the Lord let him alone. At that time, she announced, "A bridegroom because of bloodshed by circumcision."
27 The Lord said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he went, and Aaron met him at God's mountain and greeted him with a kiss. 28 Moses told Aaron what the Lord had said about his mission and all the signs that the Lord had told him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron called together all the Israelite elders. 30 Aaron told them everything that the Lord had told to Moses, and he performed the signs in front of the people. 31 The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had paid attention to the Israelites and had seen their oppression, they bowed down and worshipped.
First meeting with Pharaoh
5 Afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says: 'Let my people go so that they can hold a festival for me in the desert.'"
2 But Pharaoh said, "Who is this Lord whom I'm supposed to obey by letting Israel go? I don't know this Lord, and I certainly won't let Israel go."
3 Then they said, "The Hebrews' God has appeared to us. Let us go on a three-day journey into the desert so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. Otherwise, the Lord will give us a deadly disease or violence."
4 The king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you making the people slack off from their work? Do the hard work yourselves!" 5 Pharaoh continued, "The land's people are now numerous. Yet you want them to stop their hard work?"
6 On the very same day Pharaoh commanded the people's slave masters and supervisors, 7 "Don't supply the people with the straw they need to make bricks like you did before. Let them go out and gather the straw for themselves. 8 But still make sure that they produce the same number of bricks as they made before. Don't reduce the number! They are weak and lazy, and that's why they cry, 'Let's go and offer sacrifices to our God.' 9 Make the men's work so hard that it's all they can do, and they can't focus on these empty lies."
10 So the people's slave masters and supervisors came out and spoke to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says, 'I'm not giving you straw anymore. 11 Go and get the straw on your own, wherever you can find it. But your work won't be reduced at all.'" 12 So the people spread out all through the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The slave masters drove them hard and said, "Make sure you make the same daily quota as when you had the straw." 14 The Israelite supervisors, whom Pharaoh's slave masters had set over them, were also beaten and asked, "Why didn't you produce the same number of bricks yesterday and today as you did before?"
15 Then the Israelite supervisors came and pleaded to Pharaoh, "Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is supplied to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks!' Look at how your servants are being beaten! Your own people are to blame!"
17 Pharaoh replied, "You are lazy bums, nothing but lazy bums. That's why you say, 'Let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.' 18 Go and get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you still need to make the same number of bricks."
19 The Israelite supervisors saw how impossible their situation was when they were commanded, "Don't reduce your daily quota of bricks." 20 When they left Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them. 21 The supervisors said to them, "Let the Lord see and judge what you've done! You've made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants. You've given them a reason to kill us."
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