You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs [the miracles which prove I sent you].”

“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Work a miracle [to prove your authority],’ then you say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may become a serpent.’”

And he made outcry unto Yahweh, and Yahweh pointed out a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters became sweet, - There, he appointed him a statute and regulation And, there, he put him to the proof.

Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

And the people found fault with Moses, and said - Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why should ye find fault with me? Why should ye put Yahweh to the proof?

He named the place [where this miracle occurred] Massah (test) and Meribah (contention) because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the [patience of the] Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.