CHAPTER 7
The LORD
answered
Moses,
“See,
I have made
you like God
to Pharaoh,
and your brother
Aaron
will be
your prophet.
You
are to speak
all
that
I command you,
and your brother
Aaron
must declare
it to
Pharaoh
so that he will let the Israelites
go
out of his land.
But I
will harden
Pharaoh’s
heart,
and though I will multiply
My signs
and wonders
in the land
of Egypt,
Pharaoh
will not
listen
to you.
Then I will lay
My hand
on Egypt,
and by mighty
acts of judgment
I will bring
the divisions
of My people
the Israelites
out of the land
of Egypt.
And the Egyptians
will know
that
I
am the LORD,
when I stretch out
My hand
against
Egypt
and bring
the Israelites
out from among them.”
“When
Pharaoh
tells you,
‘Perform
a miracle,’
you are to say
to Aaron,
‘Take
your staff
and throw it down
before
Pharaoh,’
and it will become
a serpent.”
So Moses
and Aaron
went
to
Pharaoh
and did
just as
the LORD
had commanded.
Aaron
threw
his staff down
before
Pharaoh
and his officials,
and it became
a serpent.
But Pharaoh
called
the wise men
and sorcerers
and magicians
of Egypt,
and they
also
did
the same things
by their magic arts.
Each
one threw down
his staff,
and it became
a serpent.
But Aaron’s
staff
swallowed up
the other staffs.
Go
to
Pharaoh
in the morning
as you see
him walking out
to the water.
Wait
on
the bank
of the Nile
to meet him,
and take
in your hand
the staff
that
was changed
into a snake.
Then say
to him,
‘The LORD,
the God
of the Hebrews,
has sent
me to tell you:
Let My people
go,
so that they may worship
Me in the wilderness.
But
you have not
listened
until
now.
This is what
the LORD
says:
By this
you will know
that
I
am the LORD.
Behold,
with the staff
in my hand
I
will strike
the water
of the Nile,
and it will turn
to blood.
The fish
in the Nile
will die,
the river
will stink,
and the Egyptians
will be unable
to drink
its
water.’”
And the LORD
said
to
Moses,
“Tell
Aaron,
‘Take
your staff
and stretch out
your hand
over
the waters
of Egypt—
over
their rivers
and canals
and ponds
and
reservoirs—
that they may become
blood.'
There will be
blood
throughout
the land
of Egypt,
even in the vessels of wood
and stone."
Moses
and Aaron
did
just as
the LORD
had commanded;
in the presence
of Pharaoh
and his officials,
he raised
the staff
and struck
the water
of the Nile,
and all
the water
was turned
to blood.
The fish
in the Nile
died,
and the river
smelled so bad
that the Egyptians
could
not
drink
its
water.
There was
blood
throughout
the land of Egypt.
But the magicians
of Egypt
did
the same things
by their magic arts.
So Pharaoh’s
heart
was hardened,
and he would not
listen
to Moses and Aaron,
just as
the LORD
had said.
So all
the Egyptians
dug
around
the Nile
for water
to drink,
because
they could
not
drink
the water
from the river.