1 Then the Loʀᴅ said to Moses, “AEx 4:16See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2  “You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother AEx 4:15Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. 3  “But AEx 4:21I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may BEx 11:9; Acts 7:36multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4  “When AEx 3:19, 20; 7:13, 16, 22; 8:15, 19; 9:12; 11:9Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and BEx 12:51; 13:3, 9bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by CEx 6:6great judgments. 5  “AEx 7:17; 8:19, 22; 10:7; 14:4, 18, 25The Egyptians shall know that I am the Loʀᴅ, when I BEx 3:20stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” 6 So Moses and Aaron did it; AGen 6:22; 7:5; Ex 7:2as the Loʀᴅ commanded them, thus they did. 7 Moses was ADeut 29:5; 31:2; 34:7; Acts 7:23, 30eighty years old and Aaron 1Lit 83 years oldeighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Now the Loʀᴅ spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘1Lit Show a wonder for yourselvesAIs 7:11; John 2:18; 6:30Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘BEx 4:2, 17Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the Loʀᴅ had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and 1Lit before hishis servants, and it AEx 4:3; 7:9became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also ADan 2:2; 4:6; 5:7called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the 1Or soothsayer priestsBGen 41:8; Ex 7:22; Dan 2:2; 2 Tim 3:8magicians of Egypt, did 2Lit thusthe same with CEx 7:22; 8:7, 18; 2 Tim 3:9; Rev 13:13, 14their secret arts. 12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet AEx 4:21; 7:3, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 34, 35; 10:1, 20, 27Pharaoh’s heart was 1Lit stronghardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Loʀᴅ had said.

14 Then the Loʀᴅ said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is 1Or hard; lit heavystubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15  “Go to Pharaoh in the morning 1Lit beholdas AEx 2:5; 8:20he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand BEx 4:2, 3; 7:10the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16  “AEx 3:13, 18; 4:22; 5:1You shall say to him, ‘The Loʀᴅ, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “BEx 4:23; 5:1, 3Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.” 17  ‘Thus says the Loʀᴅ, “AEx 5:2; 7:5; 10:2; Ps 9:16; Ezek 25:17By this you shall know that I am the Loʀᴅ: behold, I will strike 1Lit upon the watersthe water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and BEx 4:9; 7:20; Rev 11:6; 16:4, 6it will be turned to blood. 18  “AEx 7:21The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will 1I.e. have a bad smellbecome foul, and the Egyptians will 2Or be weary ofBEx 7:24find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ” 19 Then the Loʀᴅ said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and AEx 8:5, 6, 16; 9:22; 10:12, 21; 14:21, 26stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their 1Or canalsstreams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ”

20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the Loʀᴅ had commanded. And he lifted up 1Lit with the staffAEx 17:5the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and BPs 78:44; 105:29all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile 1I.e. had a bad smellbecame foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 AEx 7:11; 8:7But the 1Or soothsayer priestsmagicians of Egypt did 2Lit thusthe same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was 3Lit stronghardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Loʀᴅ had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house 1Lit and he did not set his heart even to thiswith no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days 1Lit were fulfilledpassed after the Loʀᴅ had struck the Nile.