Parallel Bible results for "exodus 4"

Exodus 4

Common English Bible CEB

1 Then Moses replied, "But what if they don't believe me or pay attention to me? They might say to me, ‘The LORD didn't appear to you!'"

2 The LORD said to him, "What's that in your hand?" Moses replied, "A shepherd's rod."

3 The LORD said, "Throw it down on the ground." So Moses threw it on the ground, and it turned into a snake. Moses jumped back from it.

4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out and grab the snake by the tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a rod in his hand.

5 "Do this so that they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, Abraham's God, Isaac's God, and Jacob's God has in fact appeared to you."

6 Again, the LORD said to Moses, "Put your hand inside your coat." So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took his hand out, his hand had a skin disease flaky like snow.

7 Then God said, "Put your hand back inside your coat." So Moses put his hand back inside his coat. When he took it back out again, the skin of his hand had returned to normal.

8 "If they won't believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second sign.

9 If they won't believe even these two signs or pay attention to you, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on dry ground. The water that you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the dry ground."

10 But Moses said to the LORD, "My Lord, I've never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you've been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue."

11 Then the LORD said to him, "Who gives people the ability to speak? Who's responsible for making them unable to speak or hard of hearing, sighted or blind? Isn't it I, the LORD?

12 Now go! I'll help you speak, and I'll teach you what you should say."

13 But Moses said, "Please, my Lord, just send someone else."

14 Then the LORD got angry at Moses and said, "What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak very well. He's on his way out to meet you now, and he's looking forward to seeing you.

15 Speak to him and tell him what he's supposed to say. I'll help both of you speak, and I'll teach both of you what to do.

16 Aaron will speak for you to the people. He'll be a spokesperson for you, and you will be like God for him.

17 Take this shepherd's rod with you too so that you can do the signs."

18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Please let me go back to my family in Egypt and see whether or not they are still living." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

19 The LORD said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt because everyone there who wanted to kill you has died."

20 So Moses took his wife and his children, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. Moses also carried the shepherd's rod from God in his hand.

21 The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you appear before Pharaoh and do all the amazing acts that I've given you the power to do. But I'll make him stubborn so that he won't let the people go.

22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my oldest son.

23 I said to you, 'Let my son go so he could worship me.' But you refused to let him go. As a result, now I'm going to kill your oldest son.'"

24 During their journey, as they camped overnight, the LORD met Moses and tried to kill him.

25 But Zipporah took a sharp-edged flint stone and cut off her son's foreskin. Then she touched Moses' genitals with it, and she said, "You are my bridegroom because of bloodshed."

26 So the LORD let him alone. At that time, she announced, "A bridegroom because of bloodshed by circumcision."

27 The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he went, and Aaron met him at God's mountain and greeted him with a kiss.

28 Moses told Aaron what the LORD had said about his mission and all the signs that the LORD had told him to do.

29 Then Moses and Aaron called together all the Israelite elders.

30 Aaron told them everything that the LORD had told to Moses, and he performed the signs in front of the people.

31 The people believed. When they heard that the LORD had paid attention to the Israelites and had seen their oppression, they bowed down and worshipped.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Moses objected, "They won't trust me. They won't listen to a word I say. They're going to say, 'God? Appear to him? Hardly!'"

2 So God said, "What's that in your hand?" "A staff."

3 "Throw it on the ground." He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back - fast!

4 God said to Moses, "Reach out and grab it by the tail." He reached out and grabbed it - and he was holding his staff again.

5 "That's so they will trust that God appeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

6 God then said, "Put your hand inside your shirt." He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow.

7 He said, "Put your hand back under your shirt." He did it, then took it back out - as healthy as before.

8 "So if they don't trust you and aren't convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it.

9 But if it doesn't, if even after these two signs they don't trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground."

10 Moses raised another objection to God: "Master, please, I don't talk well. I've never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer."

11 God said, "And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn't it I, God?

12 So, get going. I'll be right there with you - with your mouth! I'll be right there to teach you what to say."

13 He said, "Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!"

14 God got angry with Moses: "Don't you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He's good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he's on his way to meet you. When he sees you he's going to be glad.

15 You'll speak to him and tell him what to say. I'll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step.

16 He will speak to the people for you. He'll act as your mouth, but you'll decide what comes out of it.

17 Now take this staff in your hand; you'll use it to do the signs."

18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said, "I need to return to my relatives who are in Egypt. I want to see if they're still alive." Jethro said, "Go. And peace be with you."

19 God said to Moses in Midian: "Go. Return to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

20 So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey for the return trip to Egypt. He had a firm grip on the staff of God.

21 God said to Moses, "When you get back to Egypt, be prepared: All the wonders that I will do through you, you'll do before Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn so that he will refuse to let the people go.

22 Then you are to tell Pharaoh, 'God's Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn!

23 I told you, "Free my son so that he can serve me." But you refused to free him. So now I'm going to kill your son, your firstborn.'"

24 On the journey back, as they camped for the night, God met Moses and would have killed him but

25 Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' member with it. She said, "Oh! You're a bridegroom of blood to me!"

26 Then God let him go. She used the phrase "bridegroom of blood" because of the circumcision.

27 God spoke to Aaron, "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness." He went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

28 Moses told Aaron the message that God had sent him to speak and the wonders he had commanded him to do.

29 So Moses and Aaron proceeded to round up all the leaders of Israel.

30 Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses and demonstrated the wonders before the people.

31 And the people trusted and listened believingly that God was concerned with what was going on with the Israelites and knew all about their affliction. They bowed low and they worshiped.