Study Desk

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born, you are to throw into the Nile, but every daughter, you are to keep alive."

And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?"

Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his fellow Hebrews and looked at their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his fellow Hebrews.

So he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand.

So he said to his daughters, "Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat."

And Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.

So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

And He said, "I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

But the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand and grasp it by its tail"—so he reached out with his hand and caught it, and it turned into a staff in his hand—

The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand inside the fold of your robe." So he put his hand inside the fold, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

Then He said, "Put your hand inside the fold of your robe again." So he put his hand into the fold again, and when he took it out of the fold, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

"So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I Myself will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will instruct you in what you are to do.

Then Moses departed and returned to his father-in-law Jethro, and said to him, "Please, let me go, that I may return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.

And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go."

And they said to them, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you, because you have made us repulsive in Pharaoh's sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!"