² Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,”^(A) he replied.

³ The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake,^(B) and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe^(C) 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.”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone^(A) me.”

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff^(B) with which you struck the Nile,^(C) and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.^(D) Strike^(E) the rock, and water^(F) will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah^[a](G) and Meribah^[b](H) because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Amalekites Defeated

⁸ The Amalekites^(I) came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.^{(J) 9} Moses said to Joshua,^(K) “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff^(L) of God in my hands.”

⁸ The next day Moses entered the tent^(A) and saw that Aaron’s staff,^(B) which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.^(C)