Exodus 4

1Moses answered, and said: They will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared to thee.

Respondens Moyses ait: Non credent mihi, neque audient vocem meam, sed dicent: Non apparuit tibi Dominus.

2Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod.

Dixit ergo ad eum: Quid est quod tenes in manu tua? Respondit: Virga.

3And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent, so that Moses fled from it.

Dixitque Dominus: Projice eam in terram. Projecit, et versa est in colubrum, ita ut fugeret Moyses.

4And the Lord said: Put out thy hand, and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod.

Dixitque Dominus: Extende manum tuam, et apprehende caudam ejus. Extendit, et tenuit, versaque est in virgam.

5That they may believe, saith he, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee.

Ut credant, inquit, quod apparuerit tibi Dominus Deus patrum suorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac et Deus Jacob.

6And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow.

Dixitque Dominus rursum: Mitte manum tuam in sinum tuum. Quam cum misisset in sinum, protulit leprosam instar nivis.

7And he said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like the other flesh.

Retrahe, ait, manum tuam in sinum tuum. Retraxit, et protulit iterum, et erat similis carni reliquæ.

8If they will not believe thee, saith he, nor hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the word of the latter sign.

Si non crediderint, inquit, tibi, neque audierint sermonem signi prioris, credent verbo signi sequentis.

9But if they will not even believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice: take of the river water, and pour it out upon the dry land, and whatsoever thou drawest out of the river, shall be turned into blood.

Quod si nec duobus quidem his signis crediderint, neque audierint vocem tuam: sume aquam fluminis, et effunde eam super aridam, et quidquid hauseris de fluvio, vertetur in sanguinem.

10Moses said: I beseech thee, Lord, I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I have more impediment and slowness of tongue.

Ait Moyses: Obsecro, Domine, non sum eloquens ab heri et nudiustertius: et ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum, impeditioris et tardioris linguæ sum.

11The Lord said to him: Who made man’s mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? did not I?

Dixit Dominus ad eum: Quis fecit os hominis? aut quis fabricatus est mutum et surdum, videntem et cæcum? nonne ego?

12Go therefore, and I will be in thy mouth; and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak.

Perge, igitur, et ego ero in ore tuo: doceboque te quid loquaris.

13But he said: I beseech thee, Lord, send whom thou wilt send.

At ille: Obsecro, inquit, Domine, mitte quem missurus es.

14The Lord being angry at Moses, said: Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he is eloquent: behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and seeing thee, shall be glad at heart.

Iratus Dominus in Moysen, ait: Aaron frater tuus Levites, scio quod eloquens sit: ecce ipse egreditur in occursum tuum, vidensque te lætabitur corde.

15Speak to him, and put my words in his mouth: and I will be in thy mouth, and in his mouth, and will shew you what you must do.

Loquere ad eum, et pone verba mea in ore ejus: et ego ero in ore tuo, et in ore illius, et ostendam vobis quid agere debeatis.

16He shall speak in thy stead to the people, and shall be thy mouth: but thou shalt be to him in those things that pertain to God.

Ipse loquetur pro te ad populum, et erit os tuum: tu autem eris ei in his quæ ad Deum pertinent.

17And take this rod in thy hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.

Virgam quoque hanc sume in manu tua, in qua facturus es signa.

18Moses went his way, and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said to him; I will go and return to my brethren into Egypt, that I may see if they be yet alive. And Jethro said to him: Go in peace.

Abiit Moyses, et reversus est ad Jethro socerum suum, dixitque ei: Vadam et revertar ad fratres meos in Ægyptum, ut videam si adhuc vivant. Cui ait Jethro: Vade in pace.

19And the Lord said to Moses, in Madian: Go, and return into Egypt; for they are all dead that sought thy life.

Dixit ergo Dominus ad Moysen in Madian: Vade, et revertere in Ægyptum, mortui sunt enim omnes qui quærebant animam tuam.

20Moses therefore took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass; and returned into Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand.

Tulit ergo Moyses uxorem suam, et filios suos, et imposuit eos super asinum: reversusque est in Ægyptum, portans virgam Dei in manu sua.

21And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.

Dixitque ei Dominus revertenti in Ægyptum: Vide ut omnia ostenta quæ posui in manu tua, facias coram Pharaone: ego indurabo cor ejus, et non dimittet populum.

22And thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn.

Dicesque ad eum: Hæc dicit Dominus: Filius meus primogenitus Israël.

23I have said to thee: Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou wouldst not let him go: behold I will kill thy son, thy firstborn.

Dixi tibi: Dimitte filium meum ut serviat mihi; et noluisti dimittere eum: ecce ego interficiam filium tuum primogenitum.

24And when he was in his journey, in the inn, the Lord met him, and would have killed him.

Cumque esset in itinere, in diversorio occurrit ei Dominus, et volebat occidere eum.

25Immediately Sephora took a very sharp stone, and circumcised the foreskin of her son, and touched his feet, and said: A bloody spouse art thou to me.

Tulit idcirco Sephora acutissimam petram, et circumcidit præputium filii sui, tetigitque pedes ejus, et ait: Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es.

26And he let him go after she had said: A bloody spouse art thou to me, because of the circumcision.

Et dimisit eum postquam dixerat: Sponsus sanguinum ob circumcisionem.

27And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him.

Dixit autem Dominus ad Aaron: Vade in occursum Moysi in desertum. Qui perrexit obviam ei in montem Dei, et osculatus est eum.

28And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, by which he had sent him, and the signs that he had commanded.

Narravitque Moyses Aaron omnia verba Domini quibus miserat eum, et signa quæ mandaverat.

29And they came together, and they assembled all the ancients of the children of Israel.

Veneruntque simul, et congregaverunt cunctos seniores filiorum Israël.

30And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had said to Moses: and he wrought the signs before the people.

Locutusque est Aaron omnia verba quæ dixerat Dominus ad Moysen: et fecit signa coram populo,

31And the people believed. And they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction: and falling down they adored.

et credidit populus. Audieruntque quod visitasset Dominus filios Israël, et respexisset afflictionem illorum: et proni adoraverunt.