The Daily Audio Bible

If They Will Not Believe These Signs

4 Then Moses answered and said, “What if they will not believe me and will not ^(A)listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘^(B)Yahweh has not appeared to you.’” ² And Yahweh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” And he said, “^(C)A staff.” ³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^(D)it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his ^[a]hand— ⁵ “that ^(E)they may believe that ^(F)Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ And Yahweh furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom; then he took it out, and behold, his hand was ^(G)leprous like snow. ⁷ Then He said, “Return your hand into your bosom.” So he returned his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, ^(H)it returned to being like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “And so it will be, if they will not believe you or listen to the ^[b]witness of the first sign, they may believe the ^[c]witness of ^[d]this last sign. ⁹ But if it will be that they will not believe even these two signs and that they will not listen to your voice, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry land; and the water which you take from the Nile ^(I)will become blood on the dry land.”

Aaron to Speak for Moses

¹⁰ Then Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, Lord, ^(J)I have never been a man of words, neither ^[e]recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your slave; for I am one with a ^[f]hard mouth and a ^[g]hard tongue.” ¹¹ And Yahweh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or ^(K)who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? ¹² So now, go, and ^(L)I, even I, will be with your mouth and will ^(M)instruct you what you shall speak.” ¹³ But he said, “Please, Lord, ^[h]send now the message by whomever You will.” ¹⁴ Then the anger of Yahweh burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ^[i]he can certainly speak. And moreover, behold, ^(N)he is coming out to meet you. And he will see you and be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ And you are to speak to him and ^(O)put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will instruct ^[j]you in what you shall do. ¹⁶ Moreover, ^(P)he shall speak for you to the people; and he will become as a mouth for you, and you will become as God to him. ¹⁷ And you shall take in your hand ^(Q)this staff, ^(R)with which you shall do the signs.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Then Moses went and returned to ^[k]Jethro ^(S)his father-in-law and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brothers who are in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ And Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for ^(T)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his ^(U)sons and mounted them on a donkey and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^(V)staff of God in his hand.

²¹ And Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go to return to Egypt, see to it that all ^(W)the miraculous wonders which I have put in your hand, that you do them before Pharaoh; but as for Me, ^(X)I will ^[l]harden his heart with strength so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “^(Y)Israel is My son, My firstborn. ²³ So I said to you, ‘^(Z)Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^(AA)I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”

²⁴ Now it happened at the lodging place on the way that Yahweh encountered him and ^(AB)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ Then Zipporah took ^(AC)a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched ^[m]his feet with it, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me!” ²⁶ So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” with reference to the circumcision.

^27 (AD)Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and encountered him at the ^(AE)mountain of God and kissed him. ^28 (AF)And Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which He had sent him, and ^(AG)all the signs that He had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and ^(AH)gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel; ³⁰ and ^(AI)Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses. He then did the ^(AJ)signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So ^(AK)the people believed; and they heard that Yahweh ^[n](AL)cared about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction. So ^(AM)they bowed low and worshiped.

Pharaoh Will Not Let the People Go

5 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “^(AN)Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^(AO)Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” ² But Pharaoh said, “^(AP)Who is Yahweh that I should listen to His voice to let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and also, ^(AQ)I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “^(AR)The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest He confront us with pestilence or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you ^[o]draw the people away from their ^[p]work? Get back to your ^[q](AS)hard labors!” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Look, ^(AT)the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their hard labors!” ⁶ So on that day Pharaoh commanded ^(AU)the taskmasters over the people and their ^(AV)foremen, saying, ⁷ “You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall set upon them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are ^(AW)lazy, therefore they are crying out, ‘^[r]Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let their slavery be hard on the men, and let them work at it so that they will have no regard for false words.”

¹⁰ So ^(AX)the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not going to give you any straw. ¹¹ You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but no amount of your slave labor will be reduced.’” ¹² So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ And the taskmasters were pressing them, saying, “Complete your ^[s]work quota, ^[t]the daily amount, just as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ Moreover, ^(AY)the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, ^(AZ)were beaten ^[u]and were asked, “Why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously?”

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your slaves? ¹⁶ There is no straw given to your slaves, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your slaves are being beaten; but it is the ^[v]sin of your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are ^(BA)lazy—lazy! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’ ¹⁸ So now, go and labor; but straw will not be given to you, yet you must deliver the quota of bricks.” ¹⁹ Then the foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble ^[w]because they were told, “You must not reduce ^[x]your daily amount of bricks.” ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they confronted Moses and Aaron, ^[y]standing there to meet them. ^21 (BB)And they said to them, “^(BC)May Yahweh look upon you and judge, for you have ^(BD)made ^[z]us a foul smell in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

Who Is Greatest in Heaven?

18 ^(A)At that ^[a]time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “^(B)Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² And He called a child to Himself and set him ^[b]before them, ³ and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you ^[c]are converted and ^(C)become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; ⁶ but ^(D)whoever ^(E)causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a ^[d]heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Stumbling Blocks

⁷ “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For ^(F)it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; nevertheless, woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

⁸ “^(G)And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. ^9 (H)And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into the ^[e](I)fiery hell.

¹⁰ “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that ^(J)their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ^11 [f][^(K)For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹² “What do you think? ^(L)If any man has one hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? ¹³ And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. ¹⁴ In this way, it is not the will ^[g]of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

If Your Brother Sins

¹⁵ “^(M)Now if your brother sins^[h], go and ^[i]show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ^(N)by the mouth of two or three witnesses every ^[j]fact may be confirmed. ¹⁷ And if he refuses to listen to them, ^(O)tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^(P)let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly I say to you, ^(Q)whatever you ^[k]bind on earth ^[l]shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you ^[m]loose on earth ^[n]shall have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, ^(R)it shall be done for them ^[o]by My Father who is in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three have gathered together in My name, ^(S)I am there in their midst.”