Exodus 4:2–17

²And the LORD 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,^a and he ran from it.

⁴“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, 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 of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — has appeared to you.”

⁶Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.^b” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,^c white as snow.

⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD.

So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

⁸And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. ⁹But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

¹³But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”