1Then Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" 2And the LORD asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. 3"Throw it on the ground," said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake,a and he ran from it. 4"Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail," the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5"This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Isaac—has appeared to you."