¹ And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared to thee.

² And the LORD said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A rod.

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

⁴ And the LORD said to Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail. And he Put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

⁵ That they may believe 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 furthermore to 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 snow.

⁷ And he said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he Put his hand into his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and 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 also these two signs, neither hearken to 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 to the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoke to thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

¹¹ And the LORD said to him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD.

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

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

¹⁴ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? 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 to him, and put 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 speak for thee to the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

¹⁷ And thou shalt take this rod in thy hand, with which thou shalt perform signs.

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

¹⁹ And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead who 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 the LORD said to Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou perform all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thy hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

²² And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my first-born.

²³ And I say to thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou shalt refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.

²⁴ And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

²⁵ Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

²⁶ So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

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

²⁸ And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.

²⁹ And Moses and Aaron went, and assembled all the elders of the children of Israel:

³⁰ And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹ And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads, and worshiped.

¹ At that time, says Yahweh, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;

² and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

³ Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of Armies.

⁴ Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

⁵ Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

⁶ I listened and heard, but they didn't speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

⁷ Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know Yahweh's law.

⁸ How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

⁹ The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what kind of wisdom is in them?

¹⁰ Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.

¹¹ They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, Peace; when there is no Peace.

¹² Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yahweh.

¹³ I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and [the things that] I have given them shall pass away from them.

¹⁴ Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.

¹⁵ We looked for peace, but no good came; [and] for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

¹⁶ The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.

¹⁷ For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yahweh.

¹⁸ Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

¹⁹ Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: isn't Yahweh in Zion? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?

²⁰ The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

²¹ For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?