Exodus, 4
Moses is empowered to confirm his mission with miracles: his brother Aaron is appointed to assist him.
[1] Moses answered, and said: They will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared to thee. •
[2] Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod.
[3] And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent, so that Moses fled from it.
[4] And the Lord said: Put out thy hand, and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod. •
[5] That they may believe, saith he, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee.
[6] And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow.
[7] And he said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like the other flesh. •
[8] If they will not believe thee, saith he, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign. •
[9] But if they will not even believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice: take of the river water, and pour it out upon the dry land, and whatsoever thou drawest out of the river, shall be turned into blood. •
[10] Moses said: I beseech thee, Lord, I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue. •
[11] The Lord said to him: Who made man's mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? did not I?
[12] Go therefore, and I will be in thy mouth; and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak. •
[13] But he said: I beseech thee, Lord, send whom thou wilt send. •
[14] The Lord being angry at Moses, said: Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and seeing thee, shall be glad at heart. •
[15] Speak to him, and put my words in his mouth: and I will be in thy mouth, and in his month, and will shew you what you must do. •
[16] He shall speak in thy stead to the people, and shall be thy mouth: but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God. •
[17] And take this rod in thy hand. wherewith thou shalt do the signs. •
[18] Moses went his way, and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said to him; I will go and return to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be yet alive. And Jethro said to him: Go in peace.
[19] And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian: Go, and return into Egypt; for they are all dead that sought thy life. •
[20] Moses therefore took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass; and returned into Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand. •
[21] And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden 1 his heart, and he will not let the people go. •
I shall harden: Not by being the efficient cause of his sin; but by withdrawing from him, for his just punishment, the dew of grace that might have softened his heart; and so suffering him to grow harder and harder.
[22] And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn. •
[23] I have said to thee: Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou wouldst not let him go: behold I will kill thy son, thy firstborn. •
[24] And when he was in his journey, in the inn, the Lord met him, and would have killed him 1. •
The Lord met him, and would have killed him: This was an angel representing the Lord, who treated Moses in this manner, for having neglected the circumcision of his younger son; which his wife understanding, circumcised her child upon the spot, upon which the angel let Moses go.
[25] Immediately Sephora took a very sharp stone, and circumcised the foreskin of her son, and touched his feet, and said: A bloody spouse art thou to me. •
[26] And he let him go after she had said: A bloody spouse art thou to me, because of the circumcision.
[27] And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. •
[28] And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs that he had commanded.
[29] And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel.
[30] And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people. •
[31] And the people believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction: and falling down they adored.