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4. Signs for Moses

    ² Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

   “A staff,” he replied.

    ³ The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”

   Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the LORD, “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.”

    ⁶ Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous The Hebrew word for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.—it had become as white as snow.

    ⁷ “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

    ⁸ Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

    ¹⁰ Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

    ¹¹ The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

    ¹³ But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

    ¹⁴ Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. ¹⁷ But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

    ¹⁸ Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

   Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

    ¹⁹ Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

    ²¹ The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, ²³ and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

    ²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses Hebrew him and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶ So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

    ²⁷ The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸ Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

    ²⁹ Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰ and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, ³¹ and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

12. Parables and Teachings

   “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
   “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
   under your feet.”’ Psalm 110:1

   ³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

   The large crowd listened to him with delight.

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

    ³⁸ As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁰ They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

The Widow’s Offering

105. Psalm 105

¹ Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
   make known among the nations what he has done.
² Sing to him, sing praise to him;
   tell of all his wonderful acts.
³ Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
⁴ Look to the LORD and his strength;
   seek his face always.

    ⁵ Remember the wonders he has done,
   his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
⁶ you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
   his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
⁷ He is the LORD our God;
   his judgments are in all the earth.

    ⁸ He remembers his covenant forever,
   the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
⁹ the covenant he made with Abraham,
   the oath he swore to Isaac.
¹⁰ He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
   to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
¹¹ “To you I will give the land of Canaan
   as the portion you will inherit.”

    ¹² When they were but few in number,
   few indeed, and strangers in it,
¹³ they wandered from nation to nation,
   from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴ He allowed no one to oppress them;
   for their sake he rebuked kings:
¹⁵ “Do not touch my anointed ones;
   do my prophets no harm.”