Exodus 4-6New King James Version (NKJV)
Miraculous Signs for Pharaoh
4 Then 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.’”
2 So the Lord said to him,
“What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”
3 And He said, “Cast it on the
ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled
from it. 4 Then 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), 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.”
6 Furthermore 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. 7 And 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. 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. 9 And
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[a] and pour it on
the dry land. The water which you take from the river will
become blood on the dry land.”
10 Then 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.”
11 So 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? 12 Now
therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
13 But he said, “O my Lord, please
send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
14 So 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. 15 Now
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. 16 So
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. 17 And you
shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
Moses Goes to Egypt
18 So 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.”
19 Now the Lord said to
Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are
dead.” 20 Then 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.
21 And 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. 22 Then you shall say
to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My
firstborn. 23 So 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.”’”
24 And it came to pass on the way, at
the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then
Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’[b] feet, and said,
“Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” 26 So
He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because
of the circumcision.
27 And 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. 28 So Moses told
Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs
which He had commanded him. 29 Then Moses and Aaron
went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 And
Aaron spoke all the words which the Lordhad spoken to Moses. Then he did
the signs in the sight of the people. 31 So 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.
First Encounter with Pharaoh
5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told
Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that
they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”
2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord,
that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor
will I let Israel go.”
3 So they said, “The God of the Hebrews
has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and
sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence
or with the sword.”
4 Then the king of Egypt said to
them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to
your labor.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people
of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their
labor!”
6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded
the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 7 “You
shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and
gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay on
them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For
they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice
to our God.’ 9 Let more work be laid on the men,
that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”
10 And the taskmasters of the people
and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says
Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go, get
yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be
reduced.’”12 So the people were scattered abroad
throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. 13 And
the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your
work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.” 14 Also
the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over
them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled
your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”
15 Then the officers of the children
of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why are you dealing thus with
your servants? 16 There is no straw given to your
servants, and they say to us, ‘Make brick!’ And indeed your servants are beaten,
but the fault is in your own people.”
17 But he said, “You are idle!
Idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to
the Lord.’ 18 Therefore go now and work;
for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of
bricks.” 19 And the officers of the children of
Israel saw thatthey were in trouble after it was
said, “You shall not reduce any bricks from your daily quota.”
20 Then, as they came out from
Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them. 21 And
they said to them, “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you
have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his
servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Israel’s Deliverance Assured
22 So Moses returned to the Lord and
said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it
You have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to
speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered
Your people at all.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now
you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let
them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
2 And God spoke to Moses and said to
him: “I am the Lord. 3 I
appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My
name Lord[c] I was not known to
them. 4 I have also established My covenant with
them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which
they were strangers.5 And I have also heard the groaning
of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have
remembered My covenant. 6 Therefore say to the
children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out
from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage,
and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I
will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that
I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring
you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I
will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’” 9 So
Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses,
because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.
10 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of
Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
12 And Moses spoke before
the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then
shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
13 Then the Lord spoke to
Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for
Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt.
The Family of Moses and Aaron
14 These are the
heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of
Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the
families of Reuben. 15 And the sons of Simeon were Jemuel,[d] Jamin, Ohad, Jachin,
Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families
of Simeon.16 These are the names of the
sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And
the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and
thirty-seven. 17 The sons of Gershon were Libni
and Shimi according to their families. 18 And the
sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the
years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and
thirty-three. 19 The sons of Merari were Mahli
and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their
generations.
20 Now Amram took for himself
Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And
the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and
thirty-seven. 21 The sons of Izhar were Korah,
Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael,
Elzaphan, and Zithri. 23 Aaron took to himself
Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him
Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 And the sons
of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the
families of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son,
took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him
Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the
Levites according to their families.
26 These are the same Aaron
and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel
from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” 27 These arethe
ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel
from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.
Aaron Is Moses’s Spokesman
28 And it came to pass, on the day
the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,29 that
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord.
Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”
30 But Moses said before
the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how
shall Pharaoh heed me?”