1 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Listen carefully. Just like I enabled prophet to speak my messages, I will cause the king to consider that you are like a god, and that Aaron is like a prophet. 2 You must tell everything I command you to tell to your older brother Aaron, and he will tell that to the king. He must tell the king to let the Israeli people leave his land. 3 But I will make the king stubborn [IDM]. As a result, even though I perform many kinds of ◄miracles/terrifying things► [DOU] here in Egypt, 4 the king will not pay any attention to what you say. Then I will punish [MTY] the people of Egypt [MTY] very severely [MTY], and I will lead/bring the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt. 5 Then, when I show my great power [MTY] to the Egyptian people and bring the Israeli people out from among them, they will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.”

6 Aaron and Moses/I did what Yahweh told them/us to do. They/We went and spoke to the king. 7 At that time, Moses/I was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83 years old.

8 Yahweh said to Moses/me, 9 “If the king says to you, ‘Prove that God sent you by performing a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Throw your stick down in front of the king, in order that it may become a snake.’ ” 10 So Aaron and Moses/I went to the king and did what Yahweh had commanded them/us to do. Aaron threw his stick down in front of the king and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Then the king summoned his sorcerers and men who performed magic. They did the same thing, using their magic. 12 They all threw down their sticks, and they became snakes. But Aaron’s stick, which had become a snake, swallowed up all their sticks! 13 But the king continued to be stubborn [IDM], just as Yahweh had predicted, and he would not pay attention to what Aaron and Moses/I said.

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “The king is very stubborn [IDM]. He refuses to allow my people to go. 15 So tomorrow morning, go to him as he is going down to the Nile River to bathe. Wait for him at the riverbank. When he comes out of the water, show him the stick, the one which became a snake. 16 Say to him, ‘Yahweh God, the one we Hebrews worship, sent me to you to tell you to let my people go, in order that they may worship him in the desert. We told you that, but you have not paid any attention to it. 17 So now Yahweh says this: “This is the way you will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do. Watch this: I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile River with the stick that is in my hand. When I do that, the water will become blood (OR, red like blood [MTY]). 18 Then the fish in the Nile River will die, and the water in the river will stink, and the Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile River.” ’ ”

19 Yahweh said to Moses/me, “When you are talking to the king, say to Aaron, ‘Hold your stick out as though you were holding it over the water in Egypt—over the rivers, the canals, the ponds, and over the pools of water, in order that all of it may become red like blood.’ When Aaron does that, there will be blood throughout Egypt, even in wooden jars and in stone jars.”

20 So Aaron and Moses/I did what Yahweh commanded. As the king and his officials were watching, Aaron lifted up his stick and then struck the water in the Nile River with it. And all the water in the river turned red like blood. 21 Then all the fish died. And the water stank, with the result that the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. Everywhere in Egypt the water became red like blood. 22 But the men who performed magic did the same thing using their magic. So the king remained stubborn [IDM], and he would not pay attention to what Aaron and Moses/I said, just as Yahweh had predicted. 23 The king turned and went back to his palace, and he did not think any more about it [IDM]. 24 The Egyptians [HYP] dug into the ground near the Nile River to get water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.

25 ◄One week/Seven days► passed after Yahweh caused the water in the Nile River to become red like blood.