Moses’ Staff

1Moyses aunswered, and said: See, they wyll not beleue me, nor harken vnto my voyce: but wyll saye, The Lorde hath not appeared vnto thee. 2And the Lorde sayde vnto him: What is that which is in thine hande? He aunswered: a rodde. 3And he sayde: Cast it on the grounde. And he cast it on the grounde, and it became a serpent: and Moyses fled fro the syght of it. 4And the Lorde sayde vnto Moyses: Put foorth thy hande, and take it by the tayle. And therefore he put foorth his hande, and caught it: and it became a rodde in his hande. 5By this thing shall they beleue, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isahac, & the God of Iacob hath appeared vnto thee.

Moses’ Hand

6And the Lorde sayde furthermore vnto hym: Thrust thyne hande into thy bosome. And he thruste his hande into his bosome: and when he toke it out agayne, beholde his hande was leprous, euen as snowe. 7And he sayde: Put thine hande into thy bosome againe. And he put his hand into his bosome agayne: and plucked it out of his bosome, and behold, it was turned agayne as his other fleshe. 8Therfore yf they wyll not beleue thee, neither heare ye voyce of the first signes, yet wyll they beleue for the voyce of the seconde signes. 9But & if they wyl not beleue these two signes, neither hearken vnto thy voyce: thou shalt take of the water of the riuer and powre it vpon the drye lande, and the water which thou takest out of the riuer shalbe turned into blood vpon the drye lande.

The Appointment of Aaron

10Moyses sayd vnto the Lorde: Oh my Lord, I am neither yesterday nor yer yesterday a man eloquet, neither sence thou hast spoken vnto thy seruaunt: but I am slowe mouthed, & slowe tounged. 11And the Lorde sayd vnto hym: who hath made mans mouth? or who maketh the dumbe, or deafe, the seyng, or the blynde? Haue not I the Lorde? 12And nowe go, and I wyll be with thy mouth, and teache thee what thou shalt say. 13He said: oh my Lorde, sende I pray thee, by the hande of hym whom thou wylt sende.

14And the Lorde was angry with Moyses, and sayde: Do not I knowe Aaron thy brother the Leuite, that he can speake? For lo, he commeth foorth to meete thee: and when he seeth thee, he wyll be glad in his heart. 15Therfore thou shalt speake vnto him, and put these wordes in his mouth, and I wilbe with thy mouth, and with his mouth: and wyll teache you what you ought to do. 16And he shalbe thy spokesman vnto the people, and he shalbe euen he shalbe to thee in steade of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him, in steade of God. 17And thou shalt take this rodde in thy hande, wherewith thou shalt do miracles.

Moses Leaves for Egypt

18Therfore Moyses went and returned to Iethro his father in law againe, and said vnto him: Let me go I pray thee nowe, and turne agayne vnto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet aliue. And Iethro said to Moyses: go in peace. 19And the Lorde sayde vnto Moyses in Madian, Go and returne agayne into Egypt: for all the men are dead whiche went about to kill thee. 20And Moyses toke his wyfe, and his sonnes, and put them on an asse, and went agayne to Egypt: And Moyses toke the rodde of God in his hande.

21And the Lorde sayde vnto Moyses: When thou art entred and come into Egypt agayne, see that thou do all the wonders before Pharao whiche I haue put in thy hand: but I wyll hold his heart, & he shal not let the people go. 22And thou shalt saye vnto Pharao: Thus sayeth the Lorde, Israel is my sonne euen my first borne sonne. 23And I sayde vnto thee, that thou let my sonne go, that he may serue me. And if thou refuse to let him go: beholde, I do slay thy sonne euen thy first borne.

24And it came to passe by the way in the Inne that the Lorde met hym, and woulde haue kylled hym. 25And Sephora toke a stone, and cut away the foreskin of her sonne, and cast it at his feete, and sayd: a blooddy husbande art thou vnto me. 26Then he let him go, and she sayde: a blooddy husbande, because of her circumcision.

The People Believe Moses and Aaron

27Then said the Lorde vnto Aaron: go meete Moyses in the wyldernesse. And he went and met him in the mounte of God, and kissed him. 28And Moyses tolde Aaron all the wordes of the Lorde whiche had sent him, and all the signes whiche he had charged him withall. 29So went Moyses and Aaron, and gathered all the elders of the chyldren of Israel. 30And Aaron told all the wordes which the Lord had spoken vnto Moyses: and did ye miracles in the sight of the people. 31And the people beleued. And when they hearde that the Lorde had visited the children of Israel, and had looked vpon their tribulation, they bowed the selues, and worshipped.