HOLY BIBLE: Exodus 4 (original) (raw)

1 ἀπεκρίθη δὲ Μωυσῆς καὶ εἶπεν ἐὰν οὖν μὴ πιστεύσωσίν μοι μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσιν τῆς φωνῆς μου ἐροῦσιν γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ὦπταί σοι ὁ θεός τί ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς 2 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ κύριος τί τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ ἐν τῇ χειρί σου ὁ δὲ εἶπεν ῥάβδος 3 καὶ εἶπεν ῥῖψον αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ ἔρριψεν αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐγένετο ὄφις καὶ ἔφυγεν Μωυσῆς ἀ{P'} αὐτοῦ 4 καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρα καὶ ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς κέρκου ἐκτείνας οὖν τὴν χεῖρα ἐπελάβετο τῆς κέρκου καὶ ἐγένετο ῥάβδος ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ 5 ἵνα πιστεύσωσίν σοι ὅτι ὦπταί σοι κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν θεὸς Αβρααμ καὶ θεὸς Ισαακ καὶ θεὸς Ιακωβ 6 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ κύριος πάλιν εἰσένεγκε τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου καὶ εἰσήνεγκεν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξήνεγκεν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ κόλπου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐγενήθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ χιών 7 καὶ εἶπεν πάλιν εἰσένεγκε τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου καὶ εἰσήνεγκεν τὴν χεῖρα εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξήνεγκεν αὐτὴν ἐκ τοῦ κόλπου αὐτοῦ καὶ πάλιν ἀπεκατέστη εἰς τὴν χρόαν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ 8 ἐὰν δὲ μὴ πιστεύσωσίν σοι μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσιν τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ πρώτου πιστεύσουσίν σοι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ ἐσχάτου 9 καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσίν σοι τοῖς δυσὶ σημείοις τούτοις μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσιν τῆς φωνῆς σου λήμψῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ ἐκχεεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ ξηρόν καὶ ἔσται τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ ἐὰν λάβῃς ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ αἷμα ἐπὶ τοῦ ξηροῦ

1 But Moses still had his answer; What if they will not believe me, he said, or give a hearing? What if they tell me to my face that I never had any vision of the Lord? 2 What is that in thy hand? the Lord asked him. A staff, he said. 3 So the Lord bade him cast it on the ground, and when he did so, it turned into a serpent, and Moses shrank away. 4 Now put out thy hand, the Lord said, and catch it by the tail. He did so, and it turned to a staff in his hand. 5 And the word came to him, Will they still doubt that the Lord God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has appeared to thee? 6 And now the Lord had a fresh command for him, Put thy hand into thy bosom; and, doing so, he found that it came out a leper’s hand, white as snow. 7 Now, said he, put it back in thy bosom again; so he put it back, and this time, when he brought it out, the skin on it was no different from the rest of his skin. 8 And the Lord said, If credence and hearing thou canst not gain, with the first sign for thy warrant, the evidence of this second sign will make them believe thee. 9 And if even two signs are not enough to convince them and make them listen to thee, thou hast but to take water from the river and pour it out on the ground; the water thou hast drawn out of the river will turn into blood.

1 Respondens Moyses ait: Non credent mihi, neque audient vocem meam, sed dicent: Non apparuit tibi Dominus. 2 Dixit ergo ad eum: Quid est quod tenes in manu tua? Respondit: Virga. 3 Dixitque Dominus: Projice eam in terram. Projecit, et versa est in colubrum, ita ut fugeret Moyses. 4 Dixitque Dominus: Extende manum tuam, et apprehende caudam ejus. Extendit, et tenuit, versaque est in virgam. 5 Ut credant, inquit, quod apparuerit tibi Dominus Deus patrum suorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac et Deus Jacob. 6 Dixitque Dominus rursum: Mitte manum tuam in sinum tuum. Quam cum misisset in sinum, protulit leprosam instar nivis. 7 Retrahe, ait, manum tuam in sinum tuum. Retraxit, et protulit iterum, et erat similis carni reliquæ. 8 Si non crediderint, inquit, tibi, neque audierint sermonem signi prioris, credent verbo signi sequentis. 9 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.

10 εἶπεν δὲ Μωυσῆς πρὸς κύριον δέομαι κύριε οὐχ ἱκανός εἰμι πρὸ τῆς ἐχθὲς οὐδὲ πρὸ τῆς τρίτης ἡμέρας οὐδὲ ἀ{F'} οὗ ἤρξω λαλεῖν τῷ θεράποντί σου ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος ἐγώ εἰμι 11 εἶπεν δὲ κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν τίς ἔδωκεν στόμα ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ τίς ἐποίησεν δύσκωφον καὶ κωφόν βλέποντα καὶ τυφλόν οὐκ ἐγὼ ὁ θεός 12 καὶ νῦν πορεύου καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου καὶ συμβιβάσω σε ὃ μέλλεις λαλῆσαι 13 καὶ εἶπεν Μωυσῆς δέομαι κύριε προχείρισαι δυνάμενον ἄλλον ὃν ἀποστελεῖς 14 καὶ θυμωθεὶς ὀργῇ κύριος ἐπὶ Μωυσῆν εἶπεν οὐκ ἰδοὺ Ααρων ὁ ἀδελφός σου ὁ Λευίτης ἐπίσταμαι ὅτι λαλῶν λαλήσει αὐτός σοι καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἐξελεύσεται εἰς συνάντησίν σοι καὶ ἰδών σε χαρήσεται ἐν ἑαυτῷ 15 καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ δώσεις τὰ ῥήματά μου εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου καὶ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ καὶ συμβιβάσω ὑμᾶς ἃ ποιήσετε 16 καὶ αὐτός σοι προσλαλήσει πρὸς τὸν λαόν καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται σου στόμα σὺ δὲ αὐτῷ ἔσῃ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν 17 καὶ τὴν ῥάβδον ταύτην τὴν στραφεῖσαν εἰς ὄφιν λήμψῃ ἐν τῇ χειρί σου ἐν ᾗ ποιήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ τὰ σημεῖα

10 Then Moses said, Lord, have patience with me; but all my life I have been a man of little eloquence, and now that thou, my Master, hast spoken to me, I am more faltering, more tongue-tied than ever. 11 Why, the Lord said to him, who was it that fashioned man’s mouth? Who is it that makes a man dumb or deaf, clear-sighted or blind, if not I? 12 Go as thou art bidden; I will speak with thy mouth, telling thee what words to utter. 13 But still he said, Lord have patience with me; wilt thou not choose some fitting emissary?[1] 14 And now the Lord was angry with Moses; What of thy brother Aaron (the Levite)? he asked.[2] I know him to be a man of ready speech. He is even now on his way to meet thee, and will give thee a joyful welcome when he finds thee. 15 To him thou shalt repeat my message, entrusting it to his lips; through his lips I will speak, and through thine, telling you what I would have you do. 16 He shall be thy spokesman, giving out thy message to the people, and thou shalt be his representative with God.[3] 17 And take this staff of thine with thee; thou hast portents to bring about by means of it.

10 Ait Moyses: Obsecro, Domine, non sum eloquens ab heri et nudiustertius: et ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum, impeditioris et tardioris linguæ sum. 11 Dixit Dominus ad eum: Quis fecit os hominis? aut quis fabricatus est mutum et surdum, videntem et cæcum? nonne ego? 12 Perge, igitur, et ego ero in ore tuo: doceboque te quid loquaris. 13 At ille: Obsecro, inquit, Domine, mitte quem missurus es. 14 Iratus Dominus in Moysen, ait: Aaron frater tuus Levites, scio quod eloquens sit: ecce ipse egreditur in occursum tuum, vidensque te lætabitur corde. 15 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. 16 Ipse loquetur pro te ad populum, et erit os tuum: tu autem eris ei in his quæ ad Deum pertinent. 17 Virgam quoque hanc sume in manu tua, in qua facturus es signa.

[1] The phrase here used, ‘Send the man whom as a matter of fact thou art going to send’ must be interpreted, in view of what follows, as a remonstrance, not as an act of submission.

[2] ‘The Levite’; this description seems out of place here; it is perhaps due to some corruption of the text.

[3] ‘Thou shalt be his representative with God’; literally, ‘thou shalt be to him in those things which concern God’. The Hebrew text has, ‘Thou shalt be to him (for) a God’.

[4] Apparently, in marrying a foreign wife, Moses had culpably neglected the duty of circumcising his first-born (Gen. 17.10); the part played by his wife is easier to understand, if we suppose that Moses himself was prostrated by some sudden illness. It is hard to know whether the juxtaposition of this passage with verses 22 and 23 is or is not intentional.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd