God Gives Moses Miraculous Power

¹Then Moses answered the Lord, “But suppose the Israelites do not believe me and will not listen to what I say. What shall I do if they say that you did not appear to me?”

²So the Lord asked him, “What are you holding?” “A walking stick,” he answered.

³The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” When Moses threw it down, it turned into a snake, and he ran away from it.

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach down and pick it up by the tail.” So Moses reached down and caught it, and it became a walking stick again.

⁵The Lord said, “Do this to prove to the Israelites that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶The Lord spoke to Moses again, “Put your hand inside your robe.” Moses obeyed; and when he took his hand out, it was diseased, covered with white spots, like snow.

⁷Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your robe again.” He did so, and when he took it out this time, it was healthy, just like the rest of his body.

⁸The Lord said, “If they will not believe you or be convinced by the first miracle, then this one will convince them.

⁹If in spite of these two miracles they still will not believe you, and if they refuse to listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the ground. The water will turn into blood.”

¹⁰But Moses said, “No, Lord, don't send me. I have never been a good speaker, and I haven't become one since you began to speak to me. I am a poor speaker, slow and hesitant.”

¹¹The Lord said to him, “Who gives man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or dumb? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? It is I, the Lord.

¹²Now, go! I will help you to speak, and I will tell you what to say.”

¹³But Moses answered, “No, Lord, please send someone else.”

¹⁴At this the Lord became angry with Moses and said, “What about your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. In fact, he is now coming to meet you and will be glad to see you.

¹⁵You can speak to him and tell him what to say. I will help both of you to speak, and I will tell you both what to do.

¹⁶He will be your spokesman and speak to the people for you. Then you will be like God, telling him what to say.

¹⁷Take this walking stick with you; for with it you will perform miracles.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸Then Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go back to my relatives in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” Jethro agreed and told him good-bye.

¹⁹While Moses was still in Midian, the Lord said to him, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and set out with them for Egypt, carrying the walking stick that God had told him to take.

²¹Again the Lord said to Moses, “Now that you are going back to Egypt, be sure to perform before the king all the miracles which I have given you the power to do. But I will make the king stubborn, and he will not let the people go.

²²Then you must tell him that I, the Lord, say, ‘Israel is my first-born son.

²³I told you to let my son go, so that he might worship me, but you refused. Now I am going to kill your first-born son.’”

²⁴At a camping place on the way to Egypt, the Lord met Moses and tried to kill him.

^25-26Then Zipporah, his wife, took a sharp stone, cut off the foreskin of her son, and touched Moses' feet with it. Because of the rite of circumcision she said to Moses, “You are a husband of blood to me.” And so the Lord spared Moses' life.

²⁷Meanwhile the Lord had said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he went to meet him at the holy mountain; and when he met him, he kissed him.

²⁸Then Moses told Aaron everything that the Lord had said when he told him to return to Egypt; he also told him about the miracles which the Lord had ordered him to perform.

²⁹So Moses and Aaron went to Egypt and gathered all the Israelite leaders together.

³⁰Aaron told them everything that the Lord had said to Moses, and then Moses performed all the miracles in front of the people.

³¹They believed, and when they heard that the Lord had come to them and had seen how they were being treated cruelly, they bowed down and worshiped.

Moses and Aaron before the King of Egypt

¹Then Moses and Aaron went to the king of Egypt and said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, so that they can hold a festival in the desert to honor me.’”

²“Who is the Lord?” the king demanded. “Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord; and I will not let Israel go.”

³Moses and Aaron replied, “The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us. Allow us to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don't do so, he will kill us with disease or by war.”

⁴The king said to Moses and Aaron, “What do you mean by making the people neglect their work? Get those slaves back to work!

⁵You people have become more numerous than the Egyptians. And now you want to stop working!”

⁶That same day the king commanded the Egyptian slave drivers and the Israelite foremen:

⁷“Stop giving the people straw for making bricks. Make them go and find it for themselves.

⁸But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before, not one brick less. They don't have enough work to do, and that is why they keep asking me to let them go and offer sacrifices to their God!

⁹Make them work harder and keep them busy, so that they won't have time to listen to a pack of lies.”

¹⁰The slave drivers and the Israelite foremen went out and said to the Israelites, “The king has said that he will not supply you with any more straw.

¹¹He says that you must go and get it for yourselves wherever you can find it, but you must still make the same number of bricks.”

¹²So the people went all over Egypt looking for straw.

¹³The slave drivers kept trying to force them to make the same number of bricks every day as they had made when they were given straw.

¹⁴The Egyptian slave drivers beat the Israelite foremen, whom they had put in charge of the work. They demanded, “Why aren't you people making the same number of bricks that you made before?”

¹⁵Then the foremen went to the king and complained, “Why do you do this to us, Your Majesty?

¹⁶We are given no straw, but we are still ordered to make bricks! And now we are being beaten. It is your people that are at fault.”

¹⁷The king answered, “You are lazy and don't want to work, and that is why you ask me to let you go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.

¹⁸Now get back to work! You will not be given any straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks.”

¹⁹The foremen realized that they were in trouble when they were told that they had to make the same number of bricks every day as they had made before.

²⁰As they were leaving, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them.

²¹They said to Moses and Aaron, “The Lord has seen what you have done and will punish you for making the king and his officers hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us.”

Moses Complains to the Lord

²²Then Moses turned to the Lord again and said, “Lord, why do you mistreat your people? Why did you send me here?

²³Ever since I went to the king to speak for you, he has treated them cruelly. And you have done nothing to help them!”

Offerings for Unintentional Sins

¹The Lord commanded Moses

²to tell the people of Israel that anyone who sinned and broke any of the Lord's commands without intending to, would have to observe the following rules.

³If it is the High Priest who sins and so brings guilt on the people, he shall present a young bull without any defects and sacrifice it to the Lord for his sin.

⁴He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the Tent, put his hand on its head, and kill it there in the Lord's presence.

⁵Then the High Priest shall take some of the bull's blood and carry it into the Tent.

⁶He shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it in front of the sacred curtain seven times.

⁷Then he shall put some of the blood on the projections at the corners of the incense altar in the Tent. He shall pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar used for burning sacrifices, which is at the entrance of the Tent.

⁸From this bull he shall take all the fat, the fat on the internal organs,

⁹the kidneys and the fat on them, and the best part of the liver.

¹⁰The priest shall take this fat and burn it on the altar used for the burnt offerings, just as he does with the fat from the animal killed for the fellowship offering.

¹¹But he shall take its skin, all its flesh, its head, its legs, and its internal organs, including the intestines,

¹²carry it all outside the camp to the ritually clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he shall burn it on a wood fire.

¹³If it is the whole community of Israel that sins and becomes guilty of breaking one of the Lord's commands without intending to,

¹⁴then as soon as the sin becomes known, the community shall bring a young bull as a sin offering. They shall bring it to the Tent of the Lord's presence;

¹⁵the leaders of the community shall put their hands on its head, and it shall be killed there.

¹⁶The High Priest shall take some of the bull's blood into the Tent,

¹⁷dip his finger in it, and sprinkle it in front of the curtain seven times.

¹⁸He shall put some of the blood on the projections at the corners of the incense altar inside the Tent and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar used for burning sacrifices, which is at the entrance of the Tent.

¹⁹Then he shall take all its fat and burn it on the altar.

²⁰He shall do the same thing with this bull as he does with the bull for the sin offering, and in this way he shall make the sacrifice for the people's sin, and they will be forgiven.

²¹Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burns the bull offered for his own sin. This is an offering to take away the sin of the community.

²²If it is a ruler who sins and becomes guilty of breaking one of the Lord's commands without intending to,

²³then as soon as the sin is called to his attention, he shall bring as his offering a male goat without any defects.

²⁴He shall put his hand on its head and kill it on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed. This is an offering to take away sin.

²⁵The priest shall dip his finger in the blood of the animal, put it on the projections at the corners of the altar, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar.

²⁶Then he shall burn all of its fat on the altar, just as he burns the fat of the animals killed for the fellowship offerings. In this way the priest shall offer the sacrifice for the sin of the ruler, and he will be forgiven.

²⁷If any of you people sin and become guilty of breaking one of the Lord's commands without intending to,

²⁸then as soon as the sin is called to your attention, you shall bring as your offering a female goat without any defects.

²⁹You shall put your hand on its head and kill it on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed.

³⁰The priest shall dip his finger in the blood of the animal, put it on the projections at the corners of the altar, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar.

³¹Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat is removed from the animals killed for the fellowship offerings, and he shall burn it on the altar as an odor pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest shall offer the sacrifice for the man's sin, and he will be forgiven.

³²If you bring a sheep as a sin offering, it must be a female without any defects.

³³You shall put your hand on its head and kill it on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed.

³⁴The priest shall dip his finger in the blood of the animal, put it on the projections at the corners of the altar, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar.

³⁵Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat is removed from the sheep killed for the fellowship offerings, and he shall burn it on the altar along with the food offerings given to the Lord. In this way the priest shall offer the sacrifice for your sin, and you will be forgiven.

God Is with Us

¹God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

²So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths;

³even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.

⁴There is a river that brings joy to the city of God, to the sacred house of the Most High.

⁵God is in that city, and it will never be destroyed; at early dawn he will come to its aid.

⁶Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken; God thunders, and the earth dissolves.

⁷The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

⁸Come and see what the Lord has done. See what amazing things he has done on earth.

⁹He stops wars all over the world; he breaks bows, destroys spears, and sets shields on fire.

¹⁰“Stop fighting,” he says, “and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the world.”

¹¹The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.