A reading from the Book of Exodus.

Then Moses answered,

But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice,

for they will say the Lord did not appear to you.

The Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?

He said, a staff, and he said, throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the

ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, put out your hand

and catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand,

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. Again, the Lord said to him, Put your hand inside your cloak, and he put his hand

inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said,

Put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it

out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not believe you, God said,

or listen to the first sign. They may believe the latter sign. If they will not

believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile

and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood

on the dry ground. But Moses said to the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since

you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said to him,

Who has made man's mouth, who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I,

the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. But he said, Oh, my Lord, please send

someone else. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said,

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