And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to
Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall
speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell
Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will
harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I 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 bring my hosts, my people the children of
Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The
Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand
against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.
Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old,
when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you,
‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to
Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it
may become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did
just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before
Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh
summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of
Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast
down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff
swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and
he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he
refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he
is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet
him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.
And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent
me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the
wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. Thus says the LORD,
“By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff
that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and
it shall turn into blood. The fish in the Nile shall die, and the
Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking
water from the Nile.”’” And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron,
‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of
Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all
their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there
shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of
wood and in vessels of stone.’”
Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of
Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and
struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned
into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so
that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was
blood throughout all the land of Egypt. But the magicians of Egypt
did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart remained
hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even
this to heart. And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water
to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
Seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.
