Exodus 4:1-5 ▼

1 Then Moses (drawn out) answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD {YHWH} has not appeared to you.’”

2 And the LORD {YHWH} asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

3 “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake {nachash}, and he ran from it.

4 “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD {YHWH} said to Moses (drawn out), who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

5 “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God {YHWH Elohe} of their fathers—the God of Abraham (father of many), the God of Isaac (he laughs), and the God of Jacob (he grasps the heel)—has appeared to you.”