After Moses tried to resist Yahweh’s appointment, Yahweh gave him power to perform miracles

4 Moses/I replied, “But what if the Israeli people ◄do not believe me/are not convinced► or not do what I tell them? What if they say, ‘Yahweh did not appear to you!’ ” 2 Yahweh said to him/me, “Look at that thing you are holding in your hand. What is it?” He/I replied, “A ◄walking stick/shepherd’s stick►.” 3 He said, “Throw it down on the ground!” So, he/I threw it on the ground, and it became a snake! And he/I ran/jumped away from it. 4 But Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Reach down and pick it up by its tail!” So he/I reached down and caught it, and when he/I picked it up, it became a stick in his/my hand again.

5 Yahweh said, “Do the same thing in front of the Israeli people, in order that they may believe that I, Yahweh God, the one Abraham and Isaac and Jacob worshiped, truly appeared to you.”

6 Yahweh spoke to Moses/me again, saying “Put your hand inside your robe [MTY]!” He/I did that. And when he/I took it out again, surprisingly, his/my hand was white. It had a skin disease that made it as white as snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your robe [MTY]!” So he/I did that, and when he/I took it out again, surprisingly, it was normal again, just like the rest of his/my body! 8 God said, “You can do that in front of the Israeli people, too. If they do not pay attention to what you say because of seeing the first miracle, they will ◄believe you/be convinced► when you perform the second miracle. 9 If they do not believe you or do what you say, even after you perform those two miracles, get some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground. When you do that, the water from the river that you pour on the ground will become blood [MTY] (OR, red like blood).”

10 Moses/I replied, “O Yahweh! I am not an eloquent speaker! I was not an eloquent speaker before, and I have not become one since you started talking to me! I am not a good speaker [MTY], and I speak very slowly.” 11 Then Yahweh said to him/me, “You seem to forget who it is that makes people able to speak [RHQ]! Who is it that enables people to be unable to speak or unable to hear, or able to see or not to see? It is I, Yahweh [RHQ]! 12 So start going to Egypt, and I will help you to speak [MTY], and I will tell you what you should say.” 13 But he/I replied, “O, Yahweh, I ask you, please send someone else instead!”

14 Then Yahweh became very angry with Moses/me. He said, “What about your older brother Aaron, who is also a descendant of Levi? I know that he is a very good/eloquent speaker. He is actually on his way here right now, and he will be very happy to see you. 15 You can talk to him and tell him what to say [MTY], and I will help both of you [SYN] to know what to say [MTY]. And I will tell you both what you should do. 16 He will speak for you to the Israeli people. He will be ◄your spokesman/as though he was your mouth► [MET], and you will be to him as though you are his god. 17 Be sure to take with you the walking/shepherd’s stick that is in your hand, because you will perform miracles with it.”