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Exodus 4:1
ESV Then Moses answered, "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’"
NIV Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?"
NASB Then Moses said, 'What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’?'
CSB Moses answered, "What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?"
NLT But Moses protested again, 'What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?'
KJV And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.
NKJV Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

What does Exodus 4:1 mean?

Moses continues his dialogue with God, who speaks from a burning bush (Exodus 3:2–4). When first told to represent God before Pharaoh, Moses offered concerns and excuses (Exodus 3:11, 13). Now, Moses raises a reasonable question: why would people believe me when I tell them about this? This is all the more appropriate because of Moses' history. He'd been away from Egypt for forty years (Acts 7:29–30). Further, he'd been raised among the Egyptians (Exodus 2:10) and hadn't experienced the same oppression as other Israelites. He feared rejection and ridicule from his own people.

Second, Moses feared others would not "listen to my voice." This is more or less the same concern in different words, but it comes before another reference to his fear of speaking (Exodus 4:10). Here, the focus is not on how he speaks, but the content of his message. He has no credibility among the people of Israel. What if the elders did not believe him?

God offers assurance in the following verses.
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