Exodus 7:1-17 ▼

1 And YHWH says to Moses, “See, I have given you [as] a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is your prophet;

2 you speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron speaks to Pharaoh, and he has sent the sons of Israel out of his land.

3 And I harden the heart of Pharaoh, and have multiplied My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt,

4 and Pharaoh does not listen, and I have put My hand on Egypt, and have brought out My hosts, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments;

5 and the Egyptians have known that I [am] YHWH, in My stretching out My hand against Egypt; and I have brought out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

6 And Moses does—Aaron also—as YHWH commanded them; so have they done;

7 and Moses [is] a son of eighty years, and Aaron [is] a son of eighty-three years, in their speaking to Pharaoh.

8 And YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, Give a wonder for yourselves; then you have said to Aaron, Take your rod and cast [it] before Pharaoh—it becomes a dragon.”

10 And Moses goes in—Aaron also—to Pharaoh, and they do so as YHWH has commanded; and Aaron casts his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it becomes a dragon.

11 And Pharaoh also calls for wise men and for sorcerers; and the enchanters of Egypt, they also, with their [enchanting] flames, do so,

12 and they each cast down his rod, and they become dragons, and the rod of Aaron swallows their rods;

13 and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he has not listened to them, as YHWH has spoken.

14 And YHWH says to Moses, “The heart of Pharaoh has been hard, he has refused to send the people away;

15 go to Pharaoh in the morning, behold, he is going out to the water, and you have stood to meet him by the edge of the River, and the rod which was turned to a serpent you take in your hand,

16 and you have said to him: YHWH, God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Send My people away, and they serve Me in the wilderness; and behold, you have not listened until now.

17 Thus said YHWH: By this you know that I [am] YHWH; behold, I am striking with the rod which [is] in my hand, on the waters which [are] in the River, and they have been turned to blood,