Signs for Israel

1 And Moses answered and said, But look, they will not believe me or listen to me: for they will say, The Lord has not been revealed to you. 2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? and he said, A staff. 3 And He said, Throw it on the ground; and he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, Reach out your hand and seize it by its tail; and he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5 So that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers has been revealed to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 6 And the Lord said to him, Put your hand into your garment. And he put his hand into his garment, and took it out; and look, his hand was white as snow.⁠a 7 And He said, Put your hand back into your garment. And he put his hand back into his garment, and drew it out, and look, it had become like his own flesh again. 8 And if they will not believe you or accept the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the second sign. 9 But if they will not believe even these two signs, or accept what you say, take some of the water that is in the river and pour it on the ground; and the water that you take from the river will become blood on the ground. 10 And Moses said before the Lord, Please, I have never been eloquent, either in the past or since You spoke with Your servant: for I have difficulty speaking and expressing myself. 11 But the Lord said to him, Who has made the mouth of man, and who has made the mute, or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 And now go, and My Memra will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what to say. 13 And he said, I ask the Lord to send by the hand of someone who is fit to be sent. 14 And the anger of the Lord burned against Moses; and He said, Is not Aaron the Levite, your brother, known before Me as one who can speak well?⁠b and also, look, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart. 15 And you shall speak with him, and put the words in his mouth; and My Memra will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what to do. 16 And he shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your interpreter, and you shall be a master to him; 17 and you shall take this staff in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.

Moses Returns to Egypt

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt; for all the men who sought to kill you are dead. 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on the donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff with which the miracles had been done⁠c before the Lord in his hand. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, and he will not send the people away. 22 And you shall say to Pharaoh, This is what the Lord says: Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 And I say to you, Let My son go, so that he may worship before Me; and if you refuse to send him away, look, I will kill your son, your firstborn. 24 And on the way, at the lodging place, the Angel of the Lord met him and sought to kill him.⁠d 25 And Zipporah took a stone, and circumcised the foreskin of her son, and came near before him, and said, Because of the blood of this circumcision, let my husband be given back to me. 26 And when he had let him alone, she said, If not for the blood of this circumcision, my husband would have been condemned to die. 27 And the Lord said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses in the desert. And he went and met him at the mountain on which the glory of the Lord was revealed, and he kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words with which the Lord had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel; 30 and Aaron told them all the words which the Lord had spoken with Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people. 31 And the people believed, and understood that the Lord had remembered the sons of Israel, and that their slavery was revealed before Him; and they bowed down and worshiped.