Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 101
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E x od u s
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will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians
of their wealth.”
But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to
me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw
down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached
out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
“Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the
Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.”
So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his
hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease. “Now put your hand
back into your cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and
when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second
sign. And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two
signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the
dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on
the ground.”
But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with
words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken
to me. I get t ongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”
Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or
do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak,
and I will instruct you in what to say.”
But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What
about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look!
He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. Talk
to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as
you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. Aaron will be your
spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand
in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have
shown you.”
