Exodus 7:1-17 ▼

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “See, I set 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 Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart with stiffness that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.

5 Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

6 So Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did.

7 Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Work a miraculous wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take 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 Yahweh had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

12 And each one threw down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard with firmness; he refuses to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he 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 the staff that was turned into a serpent.

16 And you shall say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.”

17 Thus says Yahweh, “By this you shall know that I am Yahweh: behold, I am about to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.