New International Version NIV
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”
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And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord.
2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
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And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.
3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.
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And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it.
4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
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And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: (and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand:)
5 “This,” said the LORD, “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.”
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So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.
6 Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous —it had become as white as snow.
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Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow.
7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
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And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. (And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.)
8 Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.
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And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign.
9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
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And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.
10 Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
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And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.
11 The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
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And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
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So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.
13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
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And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send.
14 Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.
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And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.
15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.
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Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.
16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.
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And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.
17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”
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And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs.
18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”
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And Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my relations in Egypt and see if they are still living. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”
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And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were attempting to take your life.
20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
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And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass and went back to the land of Egypt: and he took the rod of God in his hand.
21 The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
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And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go.
22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son,
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And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons:
23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
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And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship; and you did not let him go: so now I will put the first of your sons to death.
24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.
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Now on the journey, at the night's resting-place, the Lord came in his way and would have put him to death.
25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
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Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cutting off the skin of her son's private parts, and touching his feet with it, she said, Truly you are a husband of blood to me.
26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
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So he let him go. Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision.
27 The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.
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And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the waste land and you will see Moses. So he went and came across Moses at the mountain of God, and gave him a kiss.
28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.
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And Moses gave Aaron an account of all the words of the Lord which he had sent him to say, and of all the signs which he had given him orders to do.
29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites,
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Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel:
30 and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people,
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And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people.
31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
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And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.