You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.
Parallel translations
- KJV And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
- BSB You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.
- NKJV Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.
- NASB So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I Myself will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will instruct you in what you are to do.
- NLT Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will put His words in Moses' mouth, Moses will relay them to Aaron, and God will teach them both. The chain of revelation begins and ends with God.
Overview
God establishes an order: He gives the word to Moses, who gives it to Aaron, while God instructs them throughout. The arrangement preserves that the message originates with God, not with the human speakers. This safeguards the authority of the divine word passed through chosen messengers, anticipating the prophetic and apostolic ministry by which God speaks His word to His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Isa 51:16I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
- Num 23:16Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
- Num 23:5Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
- Deut 18:18I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
- Num 23:12He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
- Luke 21:15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
- Jer 1:9Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
- Isa 59:21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says Yahweh, “from henceforth and forever.”
- Exod 4:12Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.”
- Matt 28:20teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Num 22:38Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak.”
- 2 Sam 14:3Go in to the king, and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.
- Exod 7:1–2Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
- 1 Cor 11:23For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
- Deut 5:31But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.”
- 1 Cor 15:1Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 4:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.