Exodus 4:1-17

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 4

Moses Is Encouraged and Receives the Gift of Working Prodigies.^{[a] 1} Moses answered, “Behold, they will not believe me nor listen to my voice. They will say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ” ² The Lord said to him, “What is in your hand?” He answered, “A staff.” ³ The Lord said, “Throw it to the ground.” He threw the staff to the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses retreated away from it. ⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Reach out and take it by its tail.” He reached out and took it, and it became a staff again in his hand. ⁵ “This is so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ The Lord continued, “Place your hand inside your tunic.” He placed his hand in his tunic and then drew it out. Behold, his hand was covered with leprosy and was white as the snow.^{[b] 7} The Lord said, “Put your hand back in your tunic.” He put his hand back in the tunic and drew it out again. Behold, it was once again like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “If they will not believe you and heed the first sign, then they will believe the message of the second. ⁹ If they do not believe either of the signs and will not listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰ Aaron, Spokesman for Moses. Moses said to the Lord, “My Lord, I am not eloquent. I have never been so in the past nor now that you have begun to speak to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” ¹¹ The Lord told him, “Who has made man with a mouth? Who can make him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go! I will be with your mouth and supervise what you are to say.” ¹³ Moses said, “Forgive me, my Lord, but please send someone else.” ¹⁴ The Lord became angry with Moses and said to him, “Do you not have a brother, Aaron, a Levite. I know that he can speak well. He is now on his way here to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will rejoice.^{[c] 15} You will speak to him and place the words he is to say in his mouth. I will be with you and with him while you speak and I will tell you what you are to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you. It will be as if he is your mouth and you are his God. ¹⁷ Take this staff in your hand and perform the signs with it.”