I Will Extend My Hand

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(A)See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. ² As for you, you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother ^(B)Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. ³ But ^(C)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that I may ^(D)multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ When ^(E)Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay My hand on Egypt and ^(F)bring out My armies, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by ^(G)great judgments. ⁵ Then ^(H)the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I ^(I)extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron did this; ^(J)as the Lord commanded them, so they did. ⁷ And Moses was ^(K)eighty years old and Aaron ^[a]eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Turns into a Serpent

⁸ Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ⁹ “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘^[b](L)Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘^(M)Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may turn into a serpent.’” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and so they did, just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and ^[c]his servants, and it ^(N)turned into a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh also ^(O)called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the ^(P)soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with ^(Q)their secret arts. ¹² For each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. ¹³ Yet ^(R)Pharaoh’s heart was ^[d]hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Water Turned into Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is ^[e]stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning ^[f]just as ^(S)he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand ^(T)the staff that was turned into a serpent. ¹⁶ And ^(U)you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “^(V)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” ¹⁷ This is what the Lord says: “^(W)By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike ^[g]the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and ^(X)it will be turned into blood. ¹⁸ Then ^(Y)the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ^[h](Z)no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^(AA)extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their ^[i]streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’”

²⁰ So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up ^[j](AB)the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and ^(AC)all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. ²¹ Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. ^22 (AD)But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was ^[k]hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. ²³ Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house ^[l]with no concern even for this. ²⁴ So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile. ²⁵ Seven days ^[m]passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.