¹ And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Jehovah hath not appeared unto thee.

² And Jehovah said unto him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A rod.

³ And he said, Cast in on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

⁴ And Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail: (and he Put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand:)

⁵ That they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

⁶ And Jehovah said furthermore unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he Put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as [white as] snow.

⁷ And he said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. (And he Put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his [other] flesh.)

⁸ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

⁹ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

¹⁰ And Moses said unto Jehovah, Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

¹¹ And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh [a man] dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah?

¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak.

¹³ And he said, Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

¹⁴ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵ And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

¹⁶ And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God.

¹⁷ And thou shalt take in thy hand this rod, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.

¹⁸ And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren that are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace.

¹⁹ And Jehovah said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead that sought thy life.

²⁰ And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹ And Jehovah said unto Moses, When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand: but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

²² And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, my first-born:

²³ and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou hast refused to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born.

²⁴ And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him.

²⁵ Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me.

²⁶ So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood [art thou], because of the circumcision.

²⁷ And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him.

²⁸ And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs wherewith he had charged him.

²⁹ And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel:

³⁰ and Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹ And the people believed: and when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, "This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'"

² Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don't know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go."

³ They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."

⁴ The king of Egypt said to them, "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!"

⁵ Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens."

⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,

⁷ "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸ The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

⁹ Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein; and don't let them pay any attention to lying words."

¹⁰ The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will not give you straw.

¹¹ Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.'"

¹² So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

¹³ The taskmasters were urgent saying, "Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!"

¹⁴ The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, "Why haven't you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?"

¹⁵ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you deal this way with your servants?

¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people."

¹⁷ But he said, "You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.'

¹⁸ Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!"

¹⁹ The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!"

²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:

²¹ and they said to them, "May Yahweh look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."

²² Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, "Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? why is it that you have sent me?

²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people; neither have you delivered your people at all."