Exodus 7

I Will Extend My Hand

1Then the Lord said to Moses, “1See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2As for you, you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother 2Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. 3But 3I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that I may 4multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4When 5Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay My hand on Egypt and 6bring out My armies, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by 7great judgments. 5Then 8the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I 9extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” 6So Moses and Aaron did this; 10as the Lord commanded them, so they did. 7And Moses was 11eighty years old and Aaron 12eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Turns into a Serpent

8Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘1314Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘15Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may turn into a serpent.’” 10So 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 16his servants, and it 17turned into a serpent. 11Then Pharaoh also 18called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the 19soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with 20their secret arts. 12For each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. 13Yet 21Pharaoh’s heart was 22hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Water Turned into Blood

14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is 23stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15Go to Pharaoh in the morning 24just as 25he 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 26the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16And 27you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “28Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” 17This is what the Lord says: “29By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike 30the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and 31it will be turned into blood. 18Then 32the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will 3334no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” 19Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and 35extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their 36streams, 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.’”

20So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up 3738the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and 39all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. 21Then 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. 2240But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was 41hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house 42with no concern even for this. 24So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile. 25Seven days 43passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.