Moses’ Staff 1 UDB Moses said to God, "What should I do if they do not believe me or listen to me? What should I do if they say, '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 UDB 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 UDB Yahweh said, "Throw it down on the ground!" So, Moses threw the staff on the ground and 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 UDB But 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 UDB Yahweh said, "Do the same thing in front of the Israelite people in order that they may believe that I, Yahweh, the God whom Abraham worshiped, whom Isaac worshiped, and whom Jacob 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.”
Moses’ Hand 6 UDB Yahweh said to Moses, "Put your hand in your robe." Moses put his hand in his robe. When he brought his hand out, it had a disease that made the skin look 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 UDB 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, the disease was healed, and it looked like his other hand. 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 UDB Yahweh said, "You can do that in front of the Israelite people, too. 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 UDB 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.”
The Appointment of Aaron 10 UDB Then Moses said to Yahweh, "Oh Lord, I have never been good at speaking to people. I am still that way even after you began talking to your servant. 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 UDB Then Yahweh said to him, "Who made a man's mouth? Who is it who makes a man able to speak, hear, see, or not see? Is it not I, Yahweh? 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 UDB So now go, 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 UDB But Moses replied, "Oh Lord, I ask you, please send someone else in my place!" BSB BSB: But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14 UDB Then Yahweh became angry with Moses and said to him, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? He is a good speaker. He is on his way here right now, and he will be very happy to see you. 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 UDB You can talk to him and tell him what to say. I will tell you both what you should 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 UDB 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 UDB Be sure to take with you the staff that is in your hand because you will perform miracles with it." BSB BSB: But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
Moses Leaves for Egypt 18 UDB Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, "Let me go back to my people in Egypt to see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go, and may God give you peace." 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 UDB Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for the men who were looking for you are 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 UDB So Moses took his wife and sons and set them on a donkey and walked back to Egypt, and he took the staff in his hand 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 UDB Yahweh said to Moses, "When you return 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, and he will not let the Israelite people 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 UDB 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 UDB and I say to you, "Let my son go, so that he may worship me." But you did not let my son go and because of this, 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 UDB One night, as they were on the way to Egypt, Yahweh appeared to 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 UDB Then Moses's wife, Zipporah, took a knife and cut off the foreskin of their firstborn son. Then she touched the foreskin to Moses's feet and said, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me." 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 UDB Yahweh did not kill Moses. Zipporah said, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me" because of the circumcision. BSB BSB: So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)
The People Believe Moses and Aaron 27 UDB Meanwhile, Yahweh said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him on the cheek. 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 UDB Moses told Aaron everything that Yahweh had said to him and all the miracles that he 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 UDB So Aaron and Moses went and gathered together all of the elders of the Israelites. BSB BSB: Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
30 UDB Aaron told them everything that Yahweh had told Moses, and Moses performed all the miracles as the people watched. BSB BSB: and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people,
31 UDB The Israelites believed Aaron and Moses. When they heard that Yahweh had seen how the Israelite people were being badly treated and that he was going to help them, they bowed down and worshiped 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.