| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?” | 1Then 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.’ ” |
| 2Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. | 2And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. |
| 3“Throw it down on the ground,” the LORD told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. | 3“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. |
| 4Then the LORD told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand. | 4“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“Perform this sign,” the LORD told him. “Then they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.” | 5“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.” |
| 6Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease. | 6Furthermore, 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“Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the LORD said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body. | 7“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. |
| 8The LORD said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. | 8And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. |
| 9And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.” | 9But 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.” |
| 10But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” | 10“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.” |
| 11Then the LORD asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD? | 11And 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? |
| 12Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” | 12Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.” |
| 13But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” | 13But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” |
| 14Then the LORD became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. | 14Then 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. |
| 15Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. | 15You 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. |
| 16Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. | 16He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. |
| 17And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” Moses Returns to Egypt | 17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.” |
| 18So Moses went back home to Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt,” Moses said. “I don’t even know if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied. | 18Then 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. |
| 19Before Moses left Midian, the LORD said to him, “Return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died.” | 19Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” |
| 20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God. | 20So 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. |
| 21And the LORD told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go. | 21The 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. |
| 22Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son. | 22Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, |
| 23I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’” | 23and 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!’ ” |
| 24On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted him and was about to kill him. | 24Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. |
| 25But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” | 25But 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(When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the LORD left him alone. | 26So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) |
| 27Now the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go out into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain of God, and he embraced him. | 27Meanwhile, 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. |
| 28Moses then told Aaron everything the LORD had commanded him to say. And he told him about the miraculous signs the LORD had commanded him to perform. | 28And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform. |
| 29Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together. | 29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, |
| 30Aaron told them everything the LORD had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. | 30and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people, |
| 31Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. | 31and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped. |
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