¹⁸ “The elders of Israel will listen^(A) to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews,^(B) has met^(C) with us. Let us take a three-day journey^(D) into the wilderness to offer sacrifices^(E) to the Lord our God.’

⁸ Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe^(A) you or pay attention to the first sign,^(B) they may believe the second.

⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood^(A) on the ground.”

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud,^(A) so that the people will hear me speaking^(B) with you and will always put their trust^(C) in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.