Exodus 4:8
◄  Exodus 4:8  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.

New Living Translation (©2007)
The LORD said to Moses, "If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign.

English Standard Version (©2001)
“If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign.

International Standard Version (©2012)
"Then if they don't believe you and respond to the first sign, they may respond to the second sign.

NET Bible (©2006)
"If they do not believe you or pay attention to the former sign, then they may believe the latter sign.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
[Then the LORD said,] "If they won't believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

American King James Version
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, neither listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

American Standard Version
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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If they will not believe thee, saith he, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign.

Darby Bible Translation
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 other sign.

English Revised Version
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.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
"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.

Young's Literal Translation
' -- and it hath come to pass, if they do not give credence to thee, and hearken not to the voice of the first sign, that they have given credence to the voice of the latter sign.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-9 Moses objects, that the people would not take his word, unless he showed them some sign. God gives him power to work miracles. But those who are now employed to deliver God's messages to men, need not the power to work miracles: their character and their doctrines are to be tried by that word of God to which they appeal. These miracles especially referred to the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. It belonged to Him only, to cast the power of the devil out of the soul, and to heal the soul of the leprosy of sin; and so it was for Him first to cast the devil out of the body, and to heal the leprosy of the body.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - The voice of the first sign. Some understand "the voice of Moses as he gave them the first sign;" but it is better to regard the sign itself as speaking to them. According to the sacred writers everything that can teach us anything - day, night, the heavens, the firmament, the beasts, the fowls of the air, the fishes, nay, the very stones - have a voice. They teach us, speak to us, declare to us, cry out aloud, lift up their voice, shout, sing, proclaim God's will, whether man will hear or whether he will forbear. (See Psalm 19:1-3; Job 12:7, 3; Habakkuk 2:11; Luke 19:40, etc.) Equally, or rather much more, must a miracle be regarded as having a voice. God speaks to us by it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee,.... Will not give credit to the commission he had from God, but question the truth of it:

neither hearken to the voice of the first sign; which miracle wrought, spoke plain enough that he that wrought it, or for whose sake it was wrought, must be one come from God, or such a miracle would never be wrought by him or for him; but should any of the Israelites be still incredulous, it is supposed:

that they will believe the voice of the latter sign; which had a voice in it commanding belief that he was a messenger of God; the first sign respects his rod, the other his hand.

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Moses' Hand
6And the LORD said furthermore to him, Put now your hand into your bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7And he said, Put your hand into your bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, neither listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

Exodus 4:7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
Exodus 4:9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."
Exodus 4:28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.
Exodus 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.