Exodus 4:1-5 ▼

1 Then Moses answered [the LORD] and said, “What if they will not believe me or take seriously what I say? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

2 And the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.”

3 Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a [living] serpent [like the royal symbol on the crown of Pharaoh]; and Moses ran from it.

4 But the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and grasp it by the tail.” So he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—

5 [“You shall do this,” said the LORD,] “so that the elders may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has [most certainly] appeared to you.”