Moses' Fear
4 1 Then Moses answered, "But they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'Our Father did not appear to you.'"
2 Our Father said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A staff."
3 And he said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it.
4 But our Father said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and grab it by the tail"—so he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 "that they may believe that our Father, the Father of their fathers—of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob—has appeared to you."
6 Again, our Father said to him, "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 Then he said, "Put your hand back inside your cloak." So he put his hand back, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.
8 "If they will not believe you or listen to the first sign, they may believe the second sign. 9 And if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."
10 But Moses said to our Father, "Please, my Sovereign Father, I have never been good with words, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."
11 Then our Father said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, sighted or blind? Is it not I, your Father? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what to say."
13 But he said, "Please, my Sovereign Father, send someone else."
14 Then our Father's anger was kindled against Moses, and he said, "Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, his heart will be glad. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth and you shall be as our Father to him. a a v16 Moses would stand in God's place before Aaron — receiving the word from God and telling Aaron what to say. 17 And take this staff in your hand and use it to perform the signs."
Moses and Jethro Part
18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."
19 And our Father said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, set them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of our Father in his hand.
21 And our Father said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, make sure you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'This is what our Father says: Israel is my firstborn son, b b v22 Long before Israel was a nation, our Father called this people his firstborn son — the first hint of the family he is gathering to himself, fulfilled when Jesus, the true firstborn, opens the way home for all his children. 23 and I say to you, "Let my son go so he can serve me." If you refuse to let him go, I will kill your firstborn son.'"
24 At a lodging place on the way, our Father met him and tried to kill him. c c v24 This brief, mysterious scene turns on the covenant sign of circumcision, which Moses had neglected for his son. Zipporah's swift act restores the family to the covenant before Moses can lead our Father's people. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched it to Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."
26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, "A bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.
27 Now our Father said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So he went and met him at the mountain of our Father and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words our Father had given him to deliver, and all the signs he had commanded him to perform. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that our Father had spoken to Moses and performed the signs in front of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that our Father had come to help the people of Israel and had seen their suffering, they bowed their heads and worshiped.