1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, ⁱ“A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may ^jbelieve that the Lord, ^kthe God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.”¹ And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^lleprous² like snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, ^mit was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile ⁿwill become blood on the dry ground.”

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but ^oI am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and ^pI will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, ^qhe is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 ^rYou shall speak to him and ^sput the words in his mouth, and ^pI will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 ^tHe shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and ^uyou shall be as God to him. 17 And take in your hand ^vthis staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

18 Moses went back to ^wJethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for ^xall the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took ^yhis wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took ^zthe staff of God in his hand.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the ^amiracles that I have put in your power. But ^bI will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^cIsrael is my ^dfirstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I ^ewill kill your firstborn son.’”

24 At a lodging place on the way ^fthe Lord met him and ^gsought to put him to death. 25 Then ^hZipporah took a ⁱflint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’³ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness ^jto meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the ^kmountain of God and kissed him. 28 And Moses ^ltold Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all ^mthe signs that he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron ⁿwent and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 ^oAaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people ^pbelieved; and when they heard that the Lord had ^qvisited the people of Israel and that he had ^rseen their affliction, ^sthey bowed their heads and worshiped.

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to ^tturn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between ^uMigdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And ^vI will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will ^wget glory over Pharaoh and all his host, ^xand the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the ^ymind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took ^zsix hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And ^vthe Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while ^athe people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The ^bEgyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them ^cencamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^dcried out to the Lord. 11 They ^esaid to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what ^fwe said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, ^g“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For ^hthe Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 ⁱThe Lord will fight for you, and you have only ^jto be silent.”

15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 ^kLift up your staff, and ^kstretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And ^lI will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and ^mI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians ⁿshall know that I am the Lord, ^mwhen I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

19 ^oThen the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night¹ without one coming near the other all night.

21 Then Moses ^kstretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by ^pa strong east wind all night and ^qmade the sea dry land, and the waters were ^rdivided. 22 And ^sthe people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ^ta wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging² their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the ^uLord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^v“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 ^wSo Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea ^xreturned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord ^ythrew³ the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The ^zwaters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, ^anot one of them remained. 29 But the ^bpeople of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord ^csaved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 ^dIsrael saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they ^ebelieved in the Lord and in his servant Moses.