Exodus 7:1-13

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.

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.