7:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
7:2 As for you, 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.
7:3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
7:4 When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My armies, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.
7:5 Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”
7:6 So Moses and Aaron did this; as the LORD commanded them, so they did.
7:7 And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron ①eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
▷ ①Lit 83 years old
7:8 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
7:9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘ ①Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may turn into a serpent.’ ”
▷ ①Lit Show a wonder for yourselves
7:10 So 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 ①his servants, and it turned into a serpent.
▷ ①Lit before his
7:11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.
7:12 For each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.
7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart was ①hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
▷ ①Lit strong
7:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is ①stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.
▷ ①Or hard; lit heavy
7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning ①just as he 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 the staff that was turned into a serpent.
▷ ①Lit behold
7:16 And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.”
7:17 This is what the LORD says: “By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I am going to strike ①the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.
▷ ①Lit upon the waters
7:18 Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ①no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.” ’ ”
▷ ①Lit be weary of
7:19 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their ①streams, 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.’ ”
▷ ①Or canals
7:20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded. And he lifted up ①the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.
▷ ①Lit with the staff
7:21 Then 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.
7:22 But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was ①hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
▷ ①Lit strong
7:23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house ①with no concern even for this.
▷ ①Lit and he did not set his heart even to this
7:24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile.
7:25 Seven days ①passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.
▷ ①Lit were fulfilled