Exodus 4 NKJV NLT Parallel

◄ Exodus 4 ►

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1Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared 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’?”

2So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”

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

3And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled 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 the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod 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.

5“that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, 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.”

6Furthermore the LORD said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand 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.

7And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.

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 it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter 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.

9And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

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 said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

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.”

11So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have 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 therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

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

13But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

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

14So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

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.

15Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall 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.

16So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.

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.

17And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do 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

18So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to 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.

19Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.”

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

20Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod 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.

21And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not 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.

22Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.

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

23So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

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

24And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought 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.

25Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband 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.”

26So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.

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

27And the LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed 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.

28So Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.

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.

29Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.

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

30And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people.

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

31So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

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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