Targum Jonathan - Exodus 4

1 And Mosheh answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to me; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared to thee.
2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in thy hand ? And he said, The rod.
3 And He said, Cast it on the ground; and he cast it to the ground, and it became a serpent; and Mosheh fled from before it.
4 And the Lord said to Mosheh, Stretch forth thy hand and seize (it) by its tail. And he stretched forth his hand and grasped it, and it became the rod in his hand:
5 In order that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Jakob, hath revealed Himself to thee.
6 And the Lord said to him again, Put now thy hand within thy breast (Choba); and he put it within his breast, and withdrew it, and, behold, his hand was leprous, it was white as snow.
7 And He said, Return thy hand into thy bosom (Aitaph); and he returned his hand to his breast, and withdrew it from his breast, and it had become clean as his flesh.
8-9 And if they believe not these two signs, nor receive from thee, thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it on the ground, and the water that thou shalt take from the river shall become blood upon the ground.
10 And Mosheh said before the Lord, O Lord, I pray: I am not a man of words, nor ever have been before that Thou didst speak with Thy servant; for I am of a staggering * mouth and staggering speech. *Or, lame
11 And the Lord said, Who is he who first put the language of the mouth into the mouth of man? or who hath appointed the dumb or the deaf, the open-seeing or the blind, but I the Lord?
12 And now go, and I by My Word will be with the speaking of thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say.
13 And he said, I pray for mercy before the Lord. Send now Thy sending by the hand of Phinehas, by whom it is to be sent at the end of the days.
14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Mosheh, and He said, Is it not manifest before Me that Aharon thy brother speaking can speak? And, behold, also, he cometh forth to meet thee, and will see thee and rejoice in his heart.
15 And thou shalt speak with him, and put the matter in his mouth, and My Word shall be with the word of thy mouth, and with the word of his mouth, and I will instruct you what you are to do.
16 And he shall speak for thee with the people, and be to thee an interpreter, and thou to him the principal, seeking instruction from before the Lord.
17 And this rod take thou in thy hand to work therewith the signs.
18 And Mosheh went, and returned unto Jethro his father in law, and said, I will now go to my brethren who are in Mizraim, to see how they now live. And Jethro said to Mosheh, Go in peace.
19 And the Lord said unto Mosheh in Midian, Go, return to Mizraim; for they have come to nought, and gone down from their possessions; behold, all the men who sought to take thy life are reckoned as the dead.
20 And Mosheh took his wife and his sons, and made them ride on the ass, and returned to the land of Mizraim. And Mosheh took the rod which he had brought away from the chamber of his father-in-law; and it was from the sapphire Throne of glory, in weight forty sein; and upon it was engraven and set forth the Great and Glorious Name by which the signs should be wrought before the Lord by his hand.
21 And the Lord said to Mosheh, In going to return into Mizraim, consider all the miracles that I have put in thy hand, and do them before Pharoh: and I will make obstinate the disposition (passion) of his heart, and he will not deliver the people.
22 And thou shalt say to Pharoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My first-born son;
23 and to thee I say, Let My son go free, that he may worship before Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy first-born son.
24 But it was on the way, in the place of lodging that the angel of the Lord met him, and sought to kill him, because Gershom his son had not been circumcised, inasmuch as Jethro his father-in-law had not permitted him to circumcise him: but Eliezer had been circumcised, by an agreement between them two.
25 And Zipporah took a stone, and circumcised the foreskin of Gershom her son, and brought the severed part to the feet of the angel, the Destroyer, and said, The husband sought to circumcise, but the father-in-law obstructed him; and now let this blood of the circumcision atone for my husband.
26 And the destroying angel desisted from him, so that Zipporah gave thanks, and said, How lovely is the blood of this circumcision that hath delivered my husband from the angel of destruction!
27 And the Lord had said to Aharon, Go and meet Mosheh in the desert. And he came and met him at the mountain where was revealed the glory of the Lord, and he embraced him.
28 And Mosheh delivered to Aharon all these words with which he had sent him, and all the signs that he had instructed him to work.
29 And Mosheh and Aharon went, and gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel.
30 And Aharon spake all the words which the Lord had spoken with Mosheh, and did the signs in the eyes of the people.
31 And the people believed, and heard that the Lord had remembered the sons of Israel, and that their bondage was manifest before Him; and they bowed themselves and worshipped.