One Year Bible Expressions - Flipbook - Page 101
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J A N U A R Y
11Then
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? 12Now go! I will be
with you as you speak, and I will instruct
you in what to say.”
13But Moses again pleaded, “Lord,
please! Send anyone else.”
14Then 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. 15 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. 16Aaron 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. 17And take your shepherd’s staff with
you, and use it to perform the miraculous
signs I have shown you.”
18 So Moses went back home to
Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me
return to my relatives in Egypt,” Moses
said. “I don’t even know if they are still
alive.”
“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.
19 Before Moses left Midian, the Lord
said to him, “Return to Egypt, for all
those who wanted to kill you have died.”
20So Moses took his wife and sons,
put them on a donkey, and headed back
to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.
21And the Lord told Moses, “When
you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh
and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his
heart so he will refuse to let the people
go. 22 Then you will tell him, ‘This is
what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23I commanded you, “Let my
son go, so he can worship me.” But since
you have refused, I will now kill your
firstborn son!’”
24On the way to Egypt, at a place where
Moses and his family had stopped for the
night, the Lord confronted him and was
about to kill him. 25 But Moses’ wife,
2 7
Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet* with
the foreskin and said, “Now you are a
bridegroom of blood to me.” 26(When
she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she
was referring to the circumcision.) After
that, the Lord left him alone.
27Now the Lord had said to Aaron,
“Go out into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went and met Moses at
the mountain of God, and he embraced
him. 28Moses then told Aaron everything the Lord had commanded him to
say. And he told him about the miraculous signs the Lord had commanded
him to perform.
29 Then Moses and Aaron returned to
Egypt and called all the elders of Israel
together. 30Aaron told them everything
the Lord had told Moses, and Moses
performed the miraculous signs as they
watched. 31Then the people of Israel
were convinced that the Lord had sent
Moses and Aaron. When they heard
that the Lord was concerned about
them and had seen their misery, they
bowed down and worshiped.
5:1 After this presentation to Israel’s
leaders, Moses and Aaron went and
spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This
is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”
2“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And
who is the Lord? Why should I listen to
him and let Israel go? I don’t know the
Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”
3 But Aaron and Moses persisted.
“The God of the Hebrews has met with
us,” they declared. “So let us take a
three-day journey into the wilderness so
we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our
God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a
plague or with the sword.”
4Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron,
why are you distracting the people from
their tasks? Get back to work! 5Look,
there are many of your people in the
land, and you are stopping them from
their work.”
6 That same day Pharaoh sent this
