¹⁶ “Go now, gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them: ‘Adonai, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—has appeared to me, saying, I have been paying close attention to you and have seen what is done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ So I promise I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸ “They will listen to your voice. So you will go, you along with the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and say to him: ‘Adonai, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to Adonai our God.’ ¹⁹ Nevertheless, I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, except by a mighty hand. ²⁰ So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders that I will do in the midst of it. After that, he will let you go.

²¹ “Then I shall grant these people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. So it will happen that when you go, you will not leave empty-handed. ²² Every woman is to ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing. You will put them on your sons and your daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Objections and Excuses

4 Then Moses said, “But look, they will not believe me or listen to my voice. They will say, ‘Adonai has not appeared to you.’”

² So Adonai said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he said.

³ Then He said, “Cast it on the ground.” When he cast it to the ground, it became a serpent, so Moses fled from before it. ⁴ Then Adonai said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.” So he put out his hand, laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.

⁵ “This is so that they may believe Adonai, the God of their fathers—the God of Abra-ham, Isaac and Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁶ Adonai also said to him, “Now put your hand within your cloak.” So he put his hand inside, and when he took it out, his hand had tza-ra’at—white as snow. ⁷ Then He said, “Put your hand back into your cloak.” So he put his hand back in, and when he took it out it was restored again as the rest of his skin.

⁸ Then He said, “If they do not believe you, or listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the message of the latter sign. ⁹ But if they do not believe even these two signs nor listen to your voice, you are to take the water of the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰ But Moses said to Adonai, “Adonai, I am not a man of words—not yesterday, nor the day before, nor since You have spoken to Your servant—because I have a slow mouth and a heavy tongue.”

¹¹ So Adonai said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes a man mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Adonai? ¹² Now go! I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say.”

¹³ But he said, “Please, please, send it by another hand.”

¹⁴ Then the anger of Adonai was kindled against Moses, so He said, “In fact, Aaron the Levite is your brother. I know that he can speak well. Moreover, he is on his way to meet you! When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his, and teach you what to do. ¹⁶ He will be your spokesman to the people, so that he may act as a mouthpiece for you, and it will be as if you were as God for him. ¹⁷ Now then, you must take this staff in your hand to do the signs.”