Exodus 4–6
1 And Moses answered and said, “But they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice. For they will say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”
2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
And he said, “A rod.”
3 He said, “Throw it on the ground.”
And he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent. Then Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put forth your hand and take it by the tail.” And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. 5 “This is so 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, has appeared to you.”
6 The Lord said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, his hand was as leprous as snow.
7 He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again and brought it out of his bosom, and it was restored like his other flesh.
8 “If they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, then they may believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 But if they will not believe also these two signs or listen to your voice, then you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.”
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant. But I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who made the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you must say.”
13 He said, “O my Lord, send, I pray, by the hand of whomever else You will send.”
14 The anger of the Lord was inflamed against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he comes out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you must do. 16 What’s more, he will be your spokesman to the people, and he will be as a mouth for you, and you will be as God to him. 17 You must take this rod in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.”
18 Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.”
And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for all the men are dead who sought your life.” 20 Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go to return into Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart, so that he shall not let the people go. 22 You shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is My son, even My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, “Let My son go, that he may serve Me. And if you refuse to let him go, I will slay your son, even your firstborn.”’”
24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and threw it at his feet, and said, “Surely a bloody husband are you to me.” 26 So He let him go. Then she said, “A bloody husband you are, because of the circumcision.”
27 Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went, and met him at the mount of God, and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.
29 Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to 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 looked on their affliction, they bowed down and worshipped.
Chapter 5
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”
2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”
3 They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.” 5 Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land now are numerous, and you make them rest from their labor.”
6 Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 However, the quota of the bricks, which they were making previously, you shall lay upon them. You shall not diminish any of it. For they are idle. Therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let there be more work laid upon the men so that they may labor therein, and let them not regard deceptive words.”
10 The taskmasters of the people and their officers went out, and they spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go, get straw where you can find it, yet nothing of your work shall be diminished.’” 12 So the people scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters pushed them, saying, “Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, just as when there was straw.” 14 The officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, and demanded, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as previously?”
15 Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants? 16 There is no straw being given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make brick.’ And indeed, your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.”
17 But he said, “You are slackers! Slackers! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go therefore now and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall you deliver the quota of bricks.”
19 The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, after it was said, “You shall not diminish anything from your bricks of your daily task.” 20 Then they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh. 21 And they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made our scent stink in the estimation of Pharaoh and in the estimation of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.”
22 Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Lord, why have You caused trouble for this people? Why is it that You have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”
Chapter 6
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.”
2 Then God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am the Lord, 3 and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name, The Lord, I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they sojourned. 5 I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.
6 “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments. 7 And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land, which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a heritage. I am the Lord.’”
9 Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage.
10 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 11“Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
12 Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, as I am of uncircumcised lips?”
13 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel, and for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
14These are the heads of their fathers’ houses:
The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi. These are the families of Reuben.
15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon.
16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven years.
17 The sons of Gershon: Libni, and Shimei, according to their families.
18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three years.
19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.
These are the families of Levi according to their generations.
20 Now Amram married Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven years.
21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri.
22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
23 Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, to wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.
25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas.
These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
26 It was that Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” 27 They are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. It was that Moses and Aaron.
28 On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh the king of Egypt all that I say to you.”
30 However, Moses said before the Lord, “Listen! I am unskilled in speech, so how will Pharaoh listen to me?”
Matthew 14:22–36
22 Then Jesus commanded His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. 23 When He sent the crowds away, He went up into a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was turbulent.
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit.” And they cried out in fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, bid me come to You on the water.”
29 He said, “Come.”
And when Peter got out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word to all the surrounding country and brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.