Moses Given Powers

4 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or ^(A)listen ^[a]to what I say? For they may say, ‘^(B)The Lord has not appeared to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “^(C)A staff.” ³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^(D)it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his ^[b]hand— ⁵ “that ^(E)they may believe that ^(F)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 The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^(G)leprous like snow. ⁷ Then He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, ^(H)it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “If they will not believe you or ^[c]heed the ^[d]witness of the first sign, they may believe the ^[e]witness of the last sign. ⁹ But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile ^(I)will become blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, ^(J)I have never been ^[f]eloquent, neither ^[g]recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am ^[h]slow of speech and ^[i]slow of tongue.” ¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or ^(K)who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now then go, and ^(L)I, even I, will be with your mouth, and ^(M)teach you what you are to say.” ¹³ But he said, “Please, Lord, now ^[j]send the message by whomever You will.”

Aaron to Be Moses’ Mouthpiece

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ^[k]he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, ^(N)he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You are to speak to him and ^(O)put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. ¹⁶ Moreover, ^(P)he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ You shall take in your hand ^(Q)this staff, ^(R)with which you shall perform the signs.”

¹⁸ Then Moses departed and returned to ^[l]Jethro ^(S)his father-in-law and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go ^[m]back to Egypt, for ^(T)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his ^(U)sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^(V)staff of God in his hand.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “When you go ^[n]back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all ^(W)the wonders which I have put in your ^[o]power; but ^(X)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, “^(Y)Israel is My son, My firstborn. ²³ So I said to you, ‘^(Z)Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^(AA)I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”

²⁴ Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him and ^(AB)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ Then Zipporah took ^(AC)a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and ^[p]threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.” ²⁶ So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood”—^[q]because of the circumcision.

^27 (AD)Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the ^(AE)mountain of God and kissed him. ^28 (AF)Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and ^(AG)all the signs that He had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and ^(AH)assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; ³⁰ and ^(AI)Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the ^(AJ)signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So ^(AK)the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord ^[r](AL)was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then ^(AM)they bowed low and worshiped.

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

7 ^(A)When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, ^(B)He went to Capernaum.

² And a centurion’s slave, ^[a]who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When he heard about Jesus, ^(C)he sent some ^[b]Jewish elders asking Him to come and ^[c]save the life of his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ⁵ for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” ⁶ Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “^[d]Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; ⁷ for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just ^[e]say the word, and my ^[f]servant will be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ⁹ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, ^(D)not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” ¹⁰ When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹ Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, ^[g]accompanied by a large crowd. ¹² Now as He approached the gate of the city, ^[h]a dead man was being carried out, the ^[i]only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When ^(E)the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “^[j]Do not weep.” ¹⁴ And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” ¹⁵ The ^[k]dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. ^16 (F)Fear gripped them all, and they began ^(G)glorifying God, saying, “A great ^(H)prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has ^[l]visited His people!” ^17 (I)This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

A Deputation from John

^18 (J)The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. ¹⁹ Summoning ^[m]two of his disciples, John sent them to ^(K)the Lord, saying, “Are You the ^[n]Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” ²⁰ When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the ^[o]Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’” ²¹ At that ^[p]very time He ^(L)cured many people of diseases and ^(M)afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. ²² And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the ^(N)blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the ^(O)poor have the gospel preached to them. ²³ Blessed is he ^[q]who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴ When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^25 [r]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft ^[s]clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces! ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written,

²⁸ I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is ^[u]least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they ^[v]acknowledged ^(Q)God’s justice, ^(R)having been baptized with ^(S)the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the ^[w](T)lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by ^[x]John.

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist has come ^(U)eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[y]drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ^[z]sinners!’ ³⁵ Yet wisdom ^(V)is vindicated by all her children.”

³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to ^[aa]dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ^37 (W)And there was a woman in the city who was a ^[ab]sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were ^(X)a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a ^[ac]sinner.”

Parable of Two Debtors

⁴⁰ And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he ^[ad]replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred ^[ae](Y)denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they ^(Z)were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you ^(AA)gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You ^(AB)gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. ^46 (AC)You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “^(AD)Your sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹ Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say ^[af]to themselves, “^(AE)Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “^(AF)Your faith has saved you; ^(AG)go in peace.”