1 ARST Moses replied to God,“They will completely disbelieve me and ignore me because they will think,‘Yahweh did not appear to you.’” BSB BSB: Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
2 ARST Yahweh said to him,“What is that in your hand?” Moses answered,“A staff.” BSB BSB: And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
3 ARST Yahweh said,“Throw it down on the ground!” So Moses threw the staff on the ground. It became a snake and Moses ran away from it. BSB BSB: “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.
4 ARST Then Yahweh said to Moses,“Pick up the snake by its tail.” So Moses picked up the snake by the tail, and it became a staff in his hand again. BSB BSB: “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
5 ARST { Yahweh said,“Do the same thing in front of the Israelite elders} in order that they may believe that I, Yahweh, the God that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and your other ancestors worshiped, truly appeared to you.” BSB BSB: “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
6 ARST Yahweh gave Moses another instruction:“Put your hand on your chest inside your robe.” Moses put his hand into his robe. When he brought his hand out, it had a disease that made the skin look as white as snow. BSB BSB: Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.
7 ARST Then Yahweh said,“Put your hand in your robe again.” Moses put his hand back inside his robe. This time when he brought it out, amazingly, the skin on his hand looked like the rest of his skin again. BSB BSB: “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.
8 ARST { Yahweh said,“You can do that in front of the Israelite people, too.} And if they do not believe you or listen to you after seeing the first miracle, they will believe you when you perform the second miracle. BSB BSB: And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.
9 ARST But if they do not believe you or listen to what you say even after you show them these two miracles, get some water from the Nile River, and pour it on the dry ground. When you do that, the water that you pour on the dry ground will become blood.” BSB BSB: But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
10 ARST Then Moses said to Yahweh,“But Lord, I am not good at speaking to people. I have never been and you talking to me has not made me better. I speak slowly and never know what to say.” BSB BSB: “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11 ARST Then Yahweh said to him,“Do not forget that I, Yahweh, make people’ s mouths! I make people unable to speak, or unable to hear, or able to see or not to see! BSB BSB: And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
12 ARST So go now, and I will help you speak, and I will tell you what to say.” BSB BSB: Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
13 ARST But Moses replied,“Oh Lord, I ask you, please choose anyone else to send!” BSB BSB: But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14 ARST Then Yahweh became angry with Moses and said to him,“What about your brother Aaron, the descendant of Levi? I know he is a good speaker. He is on his way here right now. When he sees you, he will be very happy. BSB BSB: Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
15 ARST You will tell him what to say. I will help you both to speak and will tell you both what to do. BSB BSB: You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.
16 ARST He will speak for you to the Israelite people. He will be your spokesman, and he will think of you as if you were me. BSB BSB: He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.
17 ARST Be sure to take your staff with you, because you will perform miracles with it.” BSB BSB: But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
18 ARST Moses went back to his father- in- law, Jethro, and said to him,“Please let me go back to my relatives in Egypt to see if they are well.” Jethro said to Moses,“You may go. Be safe.” BSB BSB: Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.
19 ARST { While he was still} in Midian, Yahweh told Moses{ again},“Go back to Egypt now, for everyone trying to kill you is now dead.” BSB BSB: Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.”
20 ARST So Moses put his wife and sons on a donkey and started going toward Egypt. He took the staff with him{ as} God{ had told him to do}. BSB BSB: So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
21 ARST Yahweh spoke to Moses again,“When you get to Egypt, be sure to do all the miracles that I have given you power to do in front of the king. But I will make him reject you so that he will not let the Israelites leave Egypt. BSB BSB: The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
22 ARST Then say to him,‘This is what Yahweh says:“Israel is like my firstborn son, BSB BSB: Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
23 ARST and when I told you,‘Let my son go, so that he may worship me,’ you refused. Therefore, I will kill your firstborn son!”’” BSB BSB: and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”
24 ARST One night, as they were camping on the way to Egypt, Yahweh confronted{ Moses} in order to kill him. BSB BSB: Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.
25 ARST Then{ Moses’ wife,} Zipporah, took a sharp stone knife and cut off the foreskin of their firstborn son. Then she touched the foreskin to{ Moses’} feet and said,“You are really my husband by blood.” BSB BSB: But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
26 ARST She said,“a husband by blood,” because she had cut off their son’ s foreskin. So Yahweh did not harm anyone. BSB BSB: So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)
27 ARST Meanwhile, Yahweh said to Aaron,“Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain where God met Moses and greeted him by kissing him. BSB BSB: Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.
28 ARST Moses told Aaron everything that Yahweh had sent him{ to Egypt to say to the king and the Israelites} and all the miracles that Yahweh had instructed him{ to do}. BSB BSB: And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.
29 ARST When Moses and Aaron arrived in Egypt, they called a meeting with all the Israelite leaders. BSB BSB: Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
30 ARST Aaron told them everything that Yahweh had told Moses and performed the miracles as the leaders watched. BSB BSB: and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people,
31 ARST The leaders believed Aaron and Moses. Because they heard that Yahweh had seen how miserable the Israelites were and had come down to help them, the leaders bowed down to worship him. BSB BSB: and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.