The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” ¹ 

You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.” ¹ 

I will make you pass under ¹  the shepherd’s staff, ²  and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

When ¹  they saw him, ²  they related what they had been told ³  about this child,

Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ¹  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ²  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ³  to the Egyptians.”

All their watchmen ¹  are blind, they are unaware. ²  All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, ³  lie down, and love to snooze.

It was he ¹  who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ² 

While this one was still speaking, ¹  another messenger arrived ²  and said, “The fire of God ³  has fallen from heaven ⁴  and has burned up the sheep and the servants – it has consumed them! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

I, the Lord, say that shepherds will once again count their sheep as they pass into the fold. ¹  They will do this in all the towns in the southern hill country, the western foothills, the southern hill country, the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah.’ ² 

As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. ¹ 

But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grab it by the tail” – so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand ¹  –

“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Do ¹  a miracle,’ and you say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down ²  before Pharaoh,’ it will become ³  a snake.”

Go to Pharaoh in the morning when ¹  he goes out to the water. Position yourself ²  to meet him by the edge of the Nile, ³  and take ⁴  in your hand the staff ⁵  that was turned into a snake.

The Lord spoke to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Extend your hand with your staff ¹  over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.’”

And as for you, ¹  lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that ²  the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; ¹  take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.

But one of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet ¹  our lord, but he screamed at them.

Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I did not say ¹  to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, ²  ‘Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?’”’

Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ¹  the flock that belongs to you, ²  the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland. ³  Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ⁴  as they did in the old days. ⁵ 

So I ¹  began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted ²  of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, ³  calling one “Pleasantness” ⁴  and the other “Binders,” ⁵  and I tended the flock.