¹Then Moses answered and said, “But what if they do not believe me, and they do not comply with me? For they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” ²Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A rod.” ³He then said, “Throw it onto the ground.” So he threw it onto the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from its presence. ⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and seize it by its tail.” So he stretched out his hand and seized it, and it became a rod in his palm. ⁵“Do this so that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has appeared to you.” ⁶And the Lord said furthermore to him, “Just put your hand in your bosom.” So he put his hand in his bosom, and he took it out, and what he saw was that his hand was leprous like snow. ⁷And he said, “Put your hand back in your bosom.” So he put his hand back in his bosom, and he took it out of his bosom, and what he saw was that it was restored like his flesh. ⁸“And it will come to pass, if they do not believe you, and they do not heed the first sign, then they will believe the last sign. ⁹And it will come to pass that if they don't even believe these two signs, and they do not comply with you, that you will take some water from the river and pour it on dry land, and the water which you took from the river will become blood on the dry land.” ¹⁰Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord^*, I am not eloquent, nor was I yesterday or the day before, nor have I been since you spoke to your servant, for I am inarticulate and tongue-tied.” ¹¹But the Lord said to him, “Who put a mouth in man? Or who makes a man mute or deaf or sighted or blind? Do not I, the Lord? ¹²So now, go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will instruct you as to what you will say.” ¹³Then he said, “Please, Lord^*, send, would you, someone suitable for you to send.” ¹⁴At this the Lord's anger was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently, and moreover here he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵And you will speak to him, and you will put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will instruct you as to what you are to do. ¹⁶And he will speak to the people for you, and he will be a mouth for you, and you will be to him as if you are God. ¹⁷Now take this rod in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.” ¹⁸Then Moses departed and returned to Jether his father-in-law, and he said to him, “Let me go, would you, and I will return to my brothers who are in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” Then Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹Then the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go and return to Egypt, for all the men who tried to kill you have died.” ²⁰Then Moses took his wife and his sons, and he mounted them on a donkey and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. ²¹And the Lord said to Moses, “As you go to return to Egypt, have in view all the miracles which I have put in your power and perform them before Pharaoh, and I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. ²²And you will say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: «Israel is my son, my firstborn. ²³And I say to you, ‹Let my son go so that he can serve me.› And if you refuse to let him go, be aware that I will kill your son, your firstborn.» ’ ” ²⁴And it came to pass, on the journey, at the inn, that the Lord met him and purposed to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a sharp stone and excised her son's foreskin and flung it at his feet, and she said, “What a bridegroom of blood you are to me!” ²⁶Then the Lord left off from him. Then she said, “A bridegroom of blood in matters of circumcision.” ²⁷Then the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the desert.” So he went, and he met him at the mount of God, and he kissed him. ²⁸And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, who had sent him, and all the signs with which he had commissioned him. ²⁹So Moses went, as did Aaron, and they gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel together. ³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and he performed the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹And the people believed, and they heard that the Lord had visited the sons of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, and they bowed down and worshipped.