¹ And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

² And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

³ And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice to the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

⁴ And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, hinder the people from their works; go you to your burdens.

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

⁶ And Pharaoh commanded the same day the task-masters of the people, and their officers, saying,

⁷ Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸ And the number of the bricks which they made heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof; for they are idle: therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

⁹ Let more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein: and let them not regard vain words.

¹⁰ And the task-masters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

¹¹ Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not aught of your work shall be diminished.

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

¹³ And the task-masters hastened them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

¹⁴ And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's task-masters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Why have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick, both yesterday and to-day, as heretofore?

¹⁵ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, Why dealest thou thus with thy servants?

¹⁶ There is no straw given to thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thy own people.

¹⁷ But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go, and do sacrifice to the LORD.

¹⁸ Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the number of bricks.

¹⁹ And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not diminish aught from your bricks of your daily task.

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

²¹ And they said to them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hands to slay us.

²² And Moses returned to the LORD, and said, Lord, why hast thou so ill treated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?

²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

¹ Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'Yahweh has not appeared to you.'"

² Yahweh said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."

³ He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.

⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, "Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail." He Put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.

⁵ "That they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

⁶ Yahweh said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

⁷ He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He Put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.

⁸ "It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

⁹ It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

¹⁰ Moses said to Yahweh, "O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

¹¹ Yahweh said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, Yahweh?

¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak."

¹³ He said, "Oh, Lord, please send someone else."

¹⁴ The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Moses, and he said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵ You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶ He will be your spokesman to the people; and it will happen, that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

¹⁷ You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

¹⁸ Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "go in peace."

¹⁹ Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead."

²⁰ Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand.

²¹ Yahweh said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

²² You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn,

²³ and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

²⁴ It happened on the way at a lodging place, that Yahweh met Moses and wanted 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 you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

²⁶ So he let him alone. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.

²⁷ Yahweh said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him.

²⁸ Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him.

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

³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹ The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.