And the Lord said, What is that in thine hand? And Mo-ses said, A rod, And the Lord said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it was changed to a snake, and Mo-ses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Mo-ses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And Mo-ses did so, and it was a rod in his hand. And the Lord said, Put now thy hand in on thy breast. And he put it in, and when he drew it out it was white, and like a dead hand. And he put his hand in once more, and drew it out, and it was like the rest of his flesh. Then Mo-ses said, O, my Lord, I am not fit to do this work, for I am slow of speech, and a man of few words. And the Lord said to him, I will be with thee, and teach thee what thou wilt say. Still Mo-ses was loth to go, and the Lord was wroth with him, and said, Take Aa-ron with thee. He can speak well. And thou shalt tell him what to say and do, and I will teach you, and with this rod in thy hand thou shalt do great things, as if thou wert God. So Mo-ses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass, and went back to E-gypt with the rod of God in his hand. And Mo-ses and Aa-ron went in to the king and begged him to let the He-brews go out of the land. And he would not, but laid more work on the men, and bade them make bricks with-out straw, and do all sorts of hard tasks. And the Lord sent plagues on the land, and the ponds dried up, and all the large streams were turned to blood, and the fish died, and the stench of them made the air scarce fit to breathe. And there was no wa-ter they could drink. Then there came a plague of frogs, and they were so thick in the land that Pha-ra-oh said he would let the chil-dren of Is-ra-el go if Mo-ses would rid him of the frogs at the same time. But the king did not keep his word, for as soon as he found the frogs grew less, he said the He-brews should not go. Then the Lord smote the land with lice; but still Pha-ra-oh's heart was hard. [Illustration: MOS-ES AT THE BURN-ING BUSH.] Then the Lord sent flies in such swarms that there was no place that was free from them, and they made the food not fit to eat. And the king told Mo-ses he would let the bond-slaves go to serve their God, but they were not to go far till the land was rid of flies. Then Mo-ses went forth and prayed to God, and the flies left the land. But still the king's heart was hard, and he would not let them go. Then the Lord sent worse plagues: the flocks and herds died; there were boils on man and beast; the crops did not come up, and rain, hail, and balls of fire came down from the sky. And still the heart of the king was as hard as stone. Then the Lord sent lo-custs, that ate up all the hail had left, and there was not a green leaf on the trees nor a blade of grass to be seen in the whole land. And the king bade Mo-ses to set him free from this plague. And the Lord sent a strong west wind, that blew the flies in-to the Red Sea. Yet Pha-ra-oh would not let the He-brews go.