Exodus 4 ISV NLT Parallel

◄ Exodus 4 ►

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1Then 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.'"

1But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?”

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

2Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

3Then God said, "Throw it to the ground." He threw it to the ground and it became a snake. Moses ran away from it.

3“Throw it down on the ground,” the LORD told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

4Then God told Moses, "Reach out and grab its tail." So he reached out, grabbed it, and it became a staff in his hand.

4Then the LORD told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.

5God 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."

5“Perform this sign,” the LORD told him. “Then they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”

6Again 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.

6Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease.

7Then 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.

7“Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the LORD said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.

8"Then if they don't believe you and respond to the first sign, they may respond to the second sign.

8The 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.

9But 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."

9And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”

10Then 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."

10But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

11Then 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?

11Then the LORD asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD?

12Now, go! I myself will help you with your speech, and I'll teach you what you are to say."

12Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

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

13But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

14Then the LORD was angry with Moses and said, "There is 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.

14Then the LORD became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you.

15You'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.

15Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do.

16He is to speak to the people for you as your spokesman and you are to act in the role of God for him.

16Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say.

17Now pick up that staff with your hand. You'll use it to perform the signs."

17And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” Moses Returns to Egypt

18Moses left and returned to his father-in-law Jethro. Moses told him, "Please let me go and return to my own people in Egypt so I can see whether they're still alive." Jethro told Moses, "Go in peace."

18So Moses went back home to Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt,” Moses said. “I don’t even know if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

19The LORD told Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

19Before Moses left Midian, the LORD said to him, “Return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died.”

20So Moses took his wife and son, put them on donkeys, and headed back to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.

21Then the LORD told Moses, "When you set out to return to Egypt, keep in mind all the wonders that I've put in your power, so that you may do them before Pharaoh. But I'll harden his heart so that he won't let the people go.

21And the LORD told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

22You are to say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: "Israel is my firstborn son.

22Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.

23And I say to you, 'Let my son go so he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, then I will kill your firstborn son.'"'"

23I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’”

24But later on, at the lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.

24On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted him and was about to kill him.

25Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it, saying while doing so, "…because you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

25But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

26Then the LORD withdrew from him, and she said, "…a bridegroom of blood because of circumcision."

26(When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the LORD left him alone.

27The LORD told Aaron, "Go meet Moses in the desert." So Aaron went, found him at the mountain of God, and embraced him.

27Now the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go out into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went and met Moses at the mountain of God, and he embraced him.

28Moses told Aaron all of the LORD's messages that he had sent with Moses, and all of the signs that he commanded him to do.

28Moses then told Aaron everything the LORD had commanded him to say. And he told him about the miraculous signs the LORD had commanded him to perform.

29Later, Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelis.

29Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together.

30Aaron spoke everything that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and Moses performed the miracles before the very eyes of the people.

30Aaron told them everything the LORD had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched.

31The people believed and understood that the LORD had paid attention to the Israelis and had seen their affliction. They bowed their heads and prostrated themselves in worship.

31Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

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