Exodus 7

¹ Yahweh said to Moses, ‘See, I make you as a god for Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother is to be your prophet.

² You yourself must tell him all I command you, and Aaron your brother will tell Pharaoh to let the sons of Israel leave his land.

³ I myself will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and perform many a sign and wonder in the land of Egypt,

⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you and so I will lay my hand on Egypt and with strokes of power lead out my armies, my people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt.

⁵ And all the Egyptians shall come to know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.’

⁶ Moses and Aaron obeyed; they did what Yahweh commanded them.

⁷ Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three at the time of their audience with Pharaoh. C. THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT[*a] – THE PASSOVER

⁸ Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹ ‘If Pharaoh says to you, “Produce some marvel”, you must say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and let it turn into a serpent”‘.

¹⁰ To Pharaoh, then, Moses and Aaron duly went, and they did as Yahweh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his court, and it turned into a serpent.

¹¹ Then Pharaoh in his turn called for the sages and the sorcerers, and with their witchcraft the magicians of Egypt did the same.

¹² Each threw his staff down and these turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the staffs of the magicians.

¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron. The first plague: the water turns to blood

¹⁴ Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh is adamant. He refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵ In the morning go to him as he makes his way to the water and wait for him by the bank of the river. In your hand take the staff that turned into a serpent.

¹⁶ Say to him, “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say: Let my people go to offer me worship in the wilderness. Now, so far you have not listened.

¹⁷ Here is Yahweh’s message: That I am Yahweh you shall learn by this: with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the river and it shall be changed into blood.

¹⁸ The fish in the river will die, and the river will smell so foul that the Egyptians will not want to drink the water of it.”‘

¹⁹ Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say this to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers and their canals, their marshland, and all their reservoirs, and let them turn to blood throughout the land of Egypt, even down to the contents of every tub or jar”‘.

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as Yahweh commanded. He raised his staff and in the sight of Pharaoh and his court he struck the waters of the river, and all the water in the river changed to blood.

²¹ The fish in the river died, and the river smelt so foul that the Egyptians found it impossible to drink its water. Throughout the land of Egypt there was blood.

²² But the magicians of Egypt used their witchcraft to do the same, so that Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

²³ Pharaoh turned away and went back into his palace, taking no notice even of this.

²⁴ Meanwhile, all the Egyptians dug holes along the banks of the river in search of drinking water; they found the water of the river impossible to drink.

²⁵ After Yahweh had struck the river, seven days passed. The second plague: the frogs

²⁶ Then Yahweh said to Moses; ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him “This is Yahweh’s message: Let my people go to offer me worship.

²⁷ If you refuse to let them go, know that I will plague the whole of your country with frogs.

²⁸ The river will swarm with them; they will make their way into your palace, into your bedroom, on to your bed, into the houses of your courtiers and of your subjects, into your ovens, into your kneading bowls.

²⁹ The frogs will even climb all over you, over your courtiers, and over all your subjects.”‘