Exodus 4

The Source of Sufficiency

1 s Moses answered again,t “And ift they do not believe me or pay attention to me,t but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”ts3 The Lordt said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake,s and Moses ran from it.4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grab it by the tail” – so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hands –

5 “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 The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand into your robe.”t So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out – there was his hand,t leprous like snow!s7 He said, “Put your hand back into your robe.” So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe – there it was,t restoredt like the rest of his skin!t8 “Ift they do not believe you or pay attention tot the former sign, then they mayt believe the latter sign.t

9 And ift they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you,t then taket some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”s

10 Then Moses said to the Lord,s “Ot my Lord,t I am not an eloquent man,t neither in the pastt nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”t
11 The Lord said to him, “Who gavets a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?s

12 So now go, and I will be with your mouths and will teach yous what you must say.”t

13 But Moses said,t “Ot my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!”t

14 Then the Lord became angry withts Moses, and he said, “What aboutt your brother Aaron the Levite?s I know that he can speak very well.ts Moreover, he is comingt to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.s
15 “So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your moutht and with his mouth,t and I will teach you botht what you must do.t16 Het will speak for you to the people, and it will be as ift het were your moutht and as if you were his God.ts

17 You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.”s

The Return of Moses

18 s So Moses went backt to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may returnt to my relativest in Egypt and seet if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go backt to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”s20 Then Moses tookt his wife and sonss and put them on a donkey and headed backt to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.21 The Lord saidt to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt,t see that yout do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control.t But I will hardent his hearts andt he will not let the people go.22 You must sayt to Pharaoh, ‘Thus sayst the Lord, “Israel is my son, my firstborn,s

23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may servet me,’ but since you have refused to let him go,t I will surely killt your son, your firstborn!”’”
24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night,t the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.s25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet,t and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of bloods to me.”

26 So the Lordt let him alone. (At that timet she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring tot the circumcision.)
27 The Lord saidt to Aaron, “Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of Godt and greeted him with a kiss.t28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who hadt sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him.29 Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders.s30 Aaron spoket all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people,

31 and the people believed. When they heardst that the Lord had attended tot the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.t

Exodus 5

Opposition to the Plan of God

1 s Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord,t the God of Israel, ‘Releaset my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feastt to me in the desert.’”2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lordt thatt I should obey himts by releasingt Israel? I do not know the Lord,s and I will not release Israel!”3 And they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journeyt into the desert so that we may sacrificets to the Lord our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword.”s4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work?s Return to your labor!”

5 Pharaoh was thinking,t “The people of the land are now many, and you are giving them rest from their labor.”
6 That same day Pharaoh commandedt the slave masters and forement who weret over the people:s7 “You must no longert give straw to the people for making brickst as before.t Let them got and collect straw for themselves.8 But you must requiret of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before.t Do not reduce it, for they are slackers.t That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’

9 Make the work hardert for the men so they will keep at itts and pay no attention to lying words!”s
10 So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said,t “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not givingt you straw.11 Yout go get straw for yourselves wherever you cant find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’”12 So the people spread outt through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw.13 The slave masters were pressuringt them, saying, “Completet your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

14 The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked,t “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past – both yesterday and today?”s
15 s The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treatingt your servants this way?

16 No straw is given to your servants, but we are told,t ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are event being beaten, but the faultt is with your people.”
17 But Pharaoh replied,t “You are slackers! Slackers!t That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’18 So now, get back to work!t You will not be given straw, but you must still producet your quotas of bricks!”

19 The Israelite foremen sawt that theyt were in trouble when they were told,t “You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks.”
20 When they went out from Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,s

21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge,t because you have made us stinkt in the opinion oft Pharaoh and his servants,t so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!”t

The Assurance of Deliverance

22 s Moses returnedt to the Lord, and said, “Lord,t why have you caused trouble for this people?ts Why did you evert send me?

23 From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused troubles for this people, and you have certainly not rescuedt them!”t

Exodus 6

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh,s for compelled by my strong handt he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”ts
2 God spoket to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord.s3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ast God Almighty,t but byt my name ‘the Lord't I was not known to them.ts4 I also established my covenant with themt to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as resident foreigners.t5 It have also heardt the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving,t and I have remembered my covenant.t6 Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you outs from your enslavement tot the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose,t and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.7 I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God.s Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement tot the Egyptians.

8 I will bring you to the land I swore to givet to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob – and I will give it to yous as a possession. I am the Lord!'”
9 s Moses told thist to the Israelites, but they did not listen to himt because of their discouragementt and hard labor.10 Then the Lord said to Moses,11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt that he must releaset the Israelites from his land.”

12 But Moses replied tot the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, thens how will Pharaoh listen to me, sincet I speak with difficulty?”t

13 The Lord spoket to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charget for the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

The Ancestry of the Deliverer

14 s These are the heads of their fathers’ households:t
The sonst of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clanst of Reuben.

15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

16 Now these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records:t Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi’s life was 137 years.)

17 The sons of Gershon, by their families, were Libni and Shimei.

18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (The length of Kohath’s life was 133 years.)

19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of Levi, according to their records.

20 Amram marriedt his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram’s life was 137 years.)

21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri.

22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

25 Now Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas.
These are the heads of the fathers’ householdst of Levi according to their clans.
26 It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.”t

27 They were the men who were speaking to Pharaoh king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.

The Authentication of the Word

28 s Whent the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,29 he said to him,t “I am the Lord. Tellt Pharaoh king of Egypt all thatt I am tellingt you.”

30 But Moses said before the Lord, “Since I speak with difficulty,t why should Pharaoh listen to me?”