Old/New Testament
The Source of Sufficiency
4 [a] Moses answered again,[b] “And if[c] they do not believe me or pay attention to me,[d] but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”[e] 3 The Lord[f] said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake,[g] and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grab it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand[h]— 5 “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 The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand into your robe.”[i] So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out—there was his hand,[j] leprous like snow![k] 7 He said, “Put your hand back into your robe.” So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe—there it was,[l] restored[m] like the rest of his skin![n] 8 “If[o] they do not believe you or pay attention to[p] the former sign, then they may[q] believe the latter sign.[r] 9 And if[s] they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you,[t] then take[u] some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”[v]
10 Then Moses said to the Lord,[w] “O[x] my Lord,[y] I am not an eloquent man,[z] neither in the past[aa] nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”[ab]
11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave[ac] a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?[ad] 12 So now go, and I will be with your mouth[ae] and will teach you[af] what you must say.”[ag]
13 But Moses said,[ah] “O[ai] my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!”[aj]
14 Then the Lord became angry with[ak] Moses, and he said, “What about[al] your brother Aaron the Levite?[am] I know that he can speak very well.[an] Moreover, he is coming[ao] to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.[ap]
15 “So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth[aq] and with his mouth,[ar] and I will teach you both[as] what you must do.[at] 16 He[au] will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if[av] he[aw] were your mouth[ax] and as if you were his God.[ay] 17 You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.”[az]
The Return of Moses
18 [ba] So Moses went back[bb] to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return[bc] to my relatives[bd] in Egypt and see[be] if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back[bf] to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”[bg] 20 Then Moses took[bh] his wife and sons[bi] and put them on a donkey and headed back[bj] to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt,[bk] see that you[bl] do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control.[bm] But I will harden[bn] his heart[bo] and[bp] he will not let the people go. 22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord has said, “Israel is my son, my firstborn,[bq] 23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve[br] me,’ but since you have refused to let him go,[bs] I will surely kill[bt] your son, your firstborn!”’”
24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night,[bu] the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.[bv] 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet,[bw] and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood[bx] to me.” 26 So the Lord[by] let him alone. (At that time[bz] she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to[ca] the circumcision.)
27 The Lord said[cb] to Aaron, “Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God[cc] and greeted him with a kiss.[cd] 28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had[ce] sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders.[cf] 30 Aaron spoke[cg] all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people, 31 and the people believed. When they heard[ch] that the Lord had attended to[ci] the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.[cj]
Opposition to the Plan of God
5 [ck] Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, ‘Release[cl] my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast[cm] to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord[cn] that[co] I should obey him[cp] by releasing[cq] Israel? I do not know the Lord,[cr] and I will not release Israel!” 3 And they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey[cs] into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice[ct] to the Lord our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword.”[cu] 4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work?[cv] Return to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh was thinking,[cw] “The people of the land are now many, and you are giving them rest from their labor.”
6 That same day Pharaoh commanded[cx] the slave masters and foremen[cy] who were[cz] over the people:[da] 7 “You must no longer[db] give straw to the people for making bricks[dc] as before.[dd] Let them go[de] and collect straw for themselves. 8 But you must require[df] of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before.[dg] Do not reduce it, for they are slackers.[dh] That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder[di] for the men so they will keep at it[dj] and pay no attention to lying words!”[dk]
10 So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said,[dl] “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving[dm] you straw. 11 You[dn] go get straw for yourselves wherever you can[do] find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’” 12 So the people spread out[dp] through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw. 13 The slave masters were pressuring[dq] them, saying, “Complete[dr] your work for each day, just like when there was straw!” 14 The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked,[ds] “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past—both yesterday and today?”[dt]
15 [du] The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treating[dv] your servants this way? 16 No straw is given to your servants, but we are told,[dw] ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are even[dx] being beaten, but the fault[dy] is with your people.”
17 But Pharaoh replied,[dz] “You are slackers! Slackers![ea] That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’” 18 So now, get back to work![eb] You will not be given straw, but you must still produce[ec] your quota[ed] of bricks!” 19 The Israelite foremen saw[ee] that they[ef] were in trouble when they were told,[eg] “You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks.”
20 When they went out from Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,[eh] 21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge,[ei] because you have made us stink[ej] in the opinion of[ek] Pharaoh and his servants,[el] so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!”[em]
The Assurance of Deliverance
22 [en] Moses returned[eo] to the Lord, and said, “Lord,[ep] why have you caused trouble for this people?[eq] Why did you ever[er] send me? 23 From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble[es] for this people, and you have certainly not rescued[et] them!”[eu]
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh,[ev] for compelled by my strong hand[ew] he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”[ex]
2 God spoke[ey] to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord.[ez] 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as[fa] God Almighty,[fb] but by my name ‘the Lord’[fc] I was not known to them.[fd] 4 I also established my covenant with them[fe] to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as resident foreigners.[ff] 5 I[fg] have also heard[fh] the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving,[fi] and I have remembered my covenant.[fj] 6 Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out[fk] from your enslavement to[fl] the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose,[fm] and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God.[fn] Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to[fo] the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land I swore to give[fp] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—and I will give it to you[fq] as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
9 [fr] Moses told this[fs] to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him[ft] because of their discouragement[fu] and hard labor. 10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt that he must release[fv] the Israelites from his land.” 12 But Moses replied to[fw] the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then[fx] how will Pharaoh listen to me, since[fy] I speak with difficulty?”[fz]
13 The Lord spoke[ga] to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge[gb] for the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
The Ancestry of Moses and Aaron
14 [gc] These were the heads of their fathers’ households:[gd]
The sons[ge] of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans[gf] of Reuben.
15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.
16 Now these were the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records:[gg] Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi’s life was 137 years.)
17 The sons of Gershon, by their families, were Libni and Shimei.
18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (The length of Kohath’s life was 133 years.)
19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of Levi, according to their records.
20 Amram married[gh] his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram’s life was 137 years.)
21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri.
22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.
25 Now Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas.
These were the heads of the fathers’ households[gi] of Levi according to their clans.
26 It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.”[gj] 27 They were the men who were speaking to Pharaoh king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.
The Authentication of the Word
28 [gk] When[gl] the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said to him,[gm] “I am the Lord. Tell[gn] Pharaoh king of Egypt all that[go] I am telling[gp] you.” 30 But Moses said before the Lord, “Since I speak with difficulty,[gq] why should Pharaoh listen to me?”
Walking on Water
22 Immediately Jesus[a] made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dispersed the crowds. 23 And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile the boat, already far from land,[b] was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it. 25 As the night was ending,[c] Jesus came to them walking on the sea.[d] 26 When[e] the disciples saw him walking on the water[f] they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear. 27 But immediately Jesus[g] spoke to them:[h] “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 Peter[i] said to him,[j] “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.” 29 So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out,[k] “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
34 After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.[l] 35 When the people[m] there recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding area, and they brought all their sick to him. 36 They begged him if[n] they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
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