Signs for Moses
1Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
2Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
3The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4Then 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. 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.”
6Then 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 leprous4:6 The Hebrew word for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.—it had become 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.
8Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9But 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.”
10Moses 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.”
11The 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? 12Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
13But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
14Then 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. 15You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16He 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. 17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18Then 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.”
19Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20So 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.
21The 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. 22Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23and 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.’ ”
24At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses4:24 Hebrew him and was about to kill him. 25But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.4:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
27The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.
29Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
上帝賜摩西能力
1摩西回答說：「他們不會相信我，也不會聽我的話，他們會說，『耶和華根本沒有向你顯現。』」 2耶和華對摩西說：「你手裡拿的是什麼？」摩西說：「是一根手杖。」 3耶和華說：「把它扔在地上！」於是，摩西把杖扔在地上，杖變成了一條蛇。摩西連忙跑開。 4耶和華說：「你伸手抓住牠的尾巴！」摩西就伸手抓蛇的尾巴，蛇在他手中變回了杖。 5耶和華說：「這樣，他們就會相信他們祖先的上帝耶和華，就是亞伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的上帝，曾經向你顯現。」
6耶和華又說：「把手放進懷裡。」摩西把手放進懷裡，手抽出來的時候，竟患了痲瘋病，像雪一樣白。 7耶和華說：「再把手放進懷裡。」摩西又把手放進懷裡，這次再抽出來的時候，手已經復原，跟其他地方的皮肉一樣。 8耶和華說：「縱然他們不聽你的話，不信第一個神蹟，也必定相信第二個神蹟。 9如果他們兩個神蹟都不相信，還是不聽你的話，你就從尼羅河裡取些水來倒在旱地上，那水就會在旱地上變成血。」
10摩西對耶和華說：「主啊！我向來不善言辭，即使你對僕人說話以後，我還是不善言辭，因為我是個拙口笨舌的人。」 11耶和華對他說：「是誰造人的口舌？是誰使人啞巴或耳聾？是誰使人目明或眼瞎？豈不都是我耶和華嗎？ 12去吧！我必賜給你口才，指示你說什麼話。」 13但是摩西說：「主啊，請派其他人去吧。」 14耶和華向摩西發怒說：「利未人亞倫不是你哥哥嗎？我知道他是個能言善辯的人，正要來迎接你。他見到你一定很歡喜。 15你要把該說的話傳給他，我會賜你們口才，教你們如何行事。 16他要替你向百姓說話，做你的發言人，你對他來說就像上帝一樣。 17你要把手杖帶在身邊，以便行神蹟。」
18摩西回到家裡，對他的岳父葉特羅說：「求你讓我回埃及去探望我的親人，看看他們是否在世。」葉特羅說：「你平安地去吧。」 19耶和華在米甸對摩西說：「你只管放心回埃及去，想害你性命的人都已經死了。」 20於是，摩西拿著上帝的杖，帶著妻子和兒子騎驢返回埃及。 21耶和華對摩西說：「你到了埃及，務要照我賜給你的能力在法老面前行神蹟。但我要使他的心剛硬，他必不讓百姓離開。 22那時，你就告訴法老，『耶和華說，以色列是我的長子， 23我對你說過讓我的長子出去事奉我，但你執意不肯。看啊，我要殺你的長子。』」
24摩西在途中夜宿的時候，耶和華遇見摩西，想要殺他。 25他的妻子西坡拉拿起鋒利的火石，割下兒子的包皮，用它碰摩西的腳，說：「你真是我的血郎。」 26這樣，耶和華才放過他。當時，西坡拉說「血郎」是指割禮一事。
27耶和華對亞倫說：「你到曠野去迎接摩西。」他就在上帝的山上遇見摩西，並親吻他。 28摩西把耶和華吩咐他的以及要他行的神蹟都告訴了亞倫。 29摩西和亞倫一起回去招聚以色列的眾長老， 30亞倫把耶和華對摩西的吩咐詳細地告訴他們。摩西又在百姓面前行了那些神蹟， 31百姓相信了。以色列人聽見耶和華眷顧他們、看到了他們的苦難，都俯伏敬拜祂。
