Exodus 4:1-17 - Yahweh Provides Signs And Help For Speaking
1 Moses responded: What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say: 'Jehovah has not appeared to you.'
2 Jehovah asked him: What is that in your hand? He answered: A shepherd's staff.
3 Jehovah said: Throw it on the ground. When Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran away from it. 4 Jehovah said to Moses: Reach down and pick it up by the tail. So Moses reached down and caught it. Suddenly it became a walking stick again. 5 Jehovah said: Do this to prove to the Israelites that Jehovah, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to you.
6 Jehovah spoke to Moses again: Put your hand inside your robe. Moses obeyed. When he took his hand out, it was diseased, covered with white spots, like snow. 7 Jehovah said: Put your hand inside your robe again. He did so, and when he took it out this time, it was healthy, just like the rest of his body. 8 Jehovah said: If they will not believe you or be convinced by the first sign, then this one will convince them. 9 If in spite of these two signs they still will not believe you, and if they refuse to listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the ground. The water will turn into blood.
10 Moses said: O Jehovah I am not a man of words. I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant. Talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.
11 Jehovah said to him: Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah? 12 Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth. I will teach you what you are to say.
13 But Moses said: Please, Jehovah, send the message by whomever you will.
14 Then the anger of Jehovah burned against Moses, and He said: Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. He is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and his mouth. I will teach you what you are to do. 16 Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people. He will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. 17 Take your staff in your hand with which you shall perform the signs.