Exodus 4:1-17 - Yahweh Provides Signs And Help For Speaking

¹ Then Moses answered, "Look, they won't believe me and they won't listen to me. Instead, they'll say, "The LORD didn't appear to you.'"

² "What's that in your hand?" the LORD asked him. Moses answered, "A staff."

³ Then God said, "Throw it to the ground." He threw it to the ground and it became a snake. Moses ran away from it. ⁴ Then God told Moses, "Reach out and grab its tail." So he reached out, grabbed it, and it became a staff in his hand. ⁵ God said, "I've done this so that they may believe that the LORD God of their ancestors the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you."

⁶ Again the LORD told him, "Put your hand into your bosom." He put his hand into his bosom and as soon as he brought it out it was leprous, like snow. ⁷ Then God said, "Put your hand back into your bosom." He returned it to his bosom and as soon as he brought it out, it was restored like the rest of his skin. ⁸ "Then if they don't believe you and respond to the first sign, they may respond to the second sign. ⁹ But if they don't believe even these two signs, and won't listen to you, then take some water out of the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water you took from the Nile River will turn into blood on the dry ground."

¹⁰ Then Moses told the LORD, "Please, LORD, I'm not eloquent. I never was in the past nor am I now since you spoke to your servant. In fact, I talk too slowly and I have a speech impediment."

¹¹ Then God asked him, "Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes him unable to speak, or deaf, or able to see, or blind, or lame? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now, go! I myself will help you with your speech, and I'll teach you what you are to say."

¹³ Moses said, "Please, LORD, send somebody else."

¹⁴ Then the LORD was angry with Moses and said, "There's your brother Aaron, a descendant of Levi, isn't there? I know that he certainly is eloquent. Right now he's coming to meet you and he will be pleased to see you. ¹⁵ You're to speak to him and tell him what to say. I'll help both you and him with your speech, and I'll teach both of you what you are to do. ¹⁶ He is to speak to the people for you as your spokesman and you are to act in the role of God for him. ¹⁷ Now pick up that staff with your hand. You'll use it to perform the signs."