Exodus 7:1-13

1The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.

3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4Pharaoh will not listen to you.

Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. 5And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

6So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.1”

10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

11But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts. 12Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.

13Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,2 and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.