6. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, it was white with a skin disease.
7. Then he said, “Now put your hand inside your coat again.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat again. When he took it out, his hand was healthy again, like the rest of his skin.
8. Then the Lord said, “If the people do not believe you or pay attention to the first miracle, they may believe you when you show them this second miracle.
9. After these two miracles, if they still do not believe or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water will become blood when it touches the ground.”
10. But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been a skilled speaker. Even now, after talking to you, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and can’t find the best words.”
11. Then the Lord said to him, “Who made a person’s mouth? And who makes someone deaf or not able to speak? Or who gives a person sight or blindness? It is I, the Lord.
12. Now go! I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
13. But Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14. The Lord became angry with Moses and said, “Your brother Aaron, from the family of Levi, is a skilled speaker. He is already coming to meet you, and he will be happy when he sees you.
15. You will speak to Aaron and tell him what to say. I will help both of you to speak and will teach you what to do.
16. Aaron will speak to the people for you. You will tell him what God says, and he will speak for you.
17. Take your walking stick with you, and use it to do the miracles.”
18. Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive.”Jethro said to Moses, “Go! I wish you well.”
19. While Moses was still in Midian, the Lord said to him, “Go back to Egypt, because the men who wanted to kill you are dead now.”
20. So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and started back to Egypt. He took with him the walking stick of God.
21. The Lord said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, do all the miracles I have given you the power to do. Show them to the king of Egypt. But I will make the king very stubborn, and he will not let the people go.
22. Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son.
23. I told you to let my son go so he may worship me. But you refused to let Israel go, so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”