1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail: (and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand:) 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, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as [white as ]snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. (And he put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his [other ]flesh.) 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 10 And Moses said unto the LORD, Oh Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh [a man ]dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak. 13 And he said, Oh Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God. 17 And thou shalt take in thine hand this rod, wherewith thou shalt do the signs. 18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. 22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, my firstborn: 23 and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou hast refused to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn. 24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging place, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. 26 So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood [art thou], because of the circumcision. 27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs wherewith he had charged him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: 30 and Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Exodus · Revised Version with Apocrypha
Exodus 4 Revised Version with Apocrypha
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aaron
Moses' brother and spokesman, Israel's first high priest.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 4–40; Leviticus 8–10
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Zipporah
The Midianite daughter of Jethro who became Moses' wife in the wilderness.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2:16-22; Exodus 4:24-26; Exodus 18
Cross references (30)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Exodus 3:18; Exodus 4:31; Jeremiah 1:6; Exodus 2:14; Acts 7:25
- 2 Exodus 4:20; Exodus 4:17; Psalm 110:2; Isaiah 11:4; Genesis 30:37
- 3 Exodus 7:10–15; Amos 5:19; Exodus 4:17
- 4 Mark 16:18; Acts 28:3–6; Luke 10:19; Psalm 91:13; John 2:5
- 5 Exodus 19:9; Genesis 26:2; Exodus 3:15; Genesis 12:7; Genesis 48:3
- 6 2 Kings 5:27; Numbers 12:10
- 7 2 Kings 5:14; Deuteronomy 32:39; Matthew 8:3; Numbers 12:13–15
- 8 Isaiah 28:10; Deuteronomy 32:39; Exodus 4:30–31; 2 Kings 5:7; Job 5:18
- 9 Exodus 1:22; Exodus 7:19–25; Matthew 7:2
- 10 Jeremiah 1:6; Exodus 6:12; Acts 7:22; Exodus 4:1; 2 Corinthians 11:6
- 11 Psalm 146:8; Isaiah 6:7; Amos 3:6; Psalm 94:9; Ezekiel 3:26–27
- 12 Jeremiah 1:9; Luke 12:11–12; Matthew 10:19–20; Luke 21:14–15; Mark 13:11
- 13 Jonah 1:3; Exodus 4:1; Ezekiel 3:14–15; Jonah 1:6; John 6:29
- 14 Mark 14:13–15; 1 Chronicles 21:7; Exodus 4:27; 2 Corinthians 7:6–7; Philippians 2:21
- 15 Isaiah 51:16; Deuteronomy 18:18; Numbers 23:16; Numbers 23:12; Luke 21:15
- 16 Exodus 7:1–2; Psalm 82:6; John 10:34–35; Exodus 18:19
- 17 Exodus 4:2; 1 Corinthians 1:27; Exodus 7:9–20
- 18 Exodus 3:1; Luke 7:50; 1 Timothy 6:1; Acts 16:36; Genesis 45:3
- 19 Matthew 2:20; Exodus 2:23; Exodus 2:15
- 20 Exodus 17:9; Numbers 20:8–9; Exodus 4:2; Exodus 18:3–4; Numbers 20:11
- 21 Romans 9:18; Joshua 11:20; Isaiah 63:17; Exodus 14:8; Exodus 7:13
- 22 Hosea 11:1; Romans 9:4; Jeremiah 31:9; Hebrews 12:23; Deuteronomy 14:1
- 23 Exodus 12:29; Exodus 11:5; Psalm 135:8; Psalm 105:36; Exodus 5:1
- 24 Genesis 17:14; Numbers 22:22–23; 1 Chronicles 21:16; Leviticus 10:3; Exodus 3:18
- 25 Joshua 5:2–3; Genesis 17:14; 2 Samuel 16:7
- 27 Exodus 3:1; Acts 10:5–6; Ecclesiastes 4:9; Exodus 20:18; Acts 10:20
- 28 Exodus 4:15–16; Exodus 4:8–9; Matthew 21:29; Jonah 3:2
- 29 Exodus 3:16; Exodus 24:11; Exodus 24:1
- 30 Exodus 4:16
- 31 Exodus 3:18; Exodus 12:27; Exodus 2:25; Psalm 106:12–13; Exodus 3:16
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And nevertheless Moses feared and fled. What is it that Moses fled from that serpent?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
Thus Moses also first is in fear of the serpent, and not merely in fear, but even with much distress: and then he sees that strange thing come to pass. So these too, having first looked to perish, were then saved, that having confessed the danger, they might learn the greatness of the miracle.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… have a thing which without doubt we can ascribe to them; the dyings of the beasts, the dyings of the first-born, and this especially whence all these things proceeded, namely, the hardening of heart, so that they would not let go the people of God. For when God is said to make this most iniquitous and malignant obstinacy, He maketh …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… in behalf of heartless and disobedient men; and by the very persons who were saved by them, they were brought into extreme danger; and each of them wishing to withdraw men from idolatry; and each being unlearned; for the one was of a "slow tongue," and dull of speech, and the other for his part also somewhat of the rudest …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)