Making Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold ^(A)a feast to me in the wilderness.’” ² But Pharaoh said, ^(B)“Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, ^(C)I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “The ^(D)God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your ^(E)burdens.” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Behold, ^(F)the people of the land are now many,^[a] and you make them rest from their burdens!” ⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the ^(G)taskmasters of the people and their ^(H)foremen, ⁷ “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

¹⁰ So the ^(I)taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” ¹² So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ The ^(J)taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's ^(K)taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? ¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” ¹⁹ The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” ²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; ²¹ and ^(L)they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²² Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

God Promises Deliverance

6 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with ^(M)a strong hand he will ^(N)drive them out of his land.”

² God spoke to Moses and said to him, ^(O)“I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ^(P)God Almighty,^[b] but by my name the ^(Q)Lord I did not make myself known to them. ^4 (R)I also established my covenant with them ^(S)to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. ⁵ Moreover, ^(T)I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶ Say therefore to the people of Israel, ^(U)‘I am the Lord, and ^(V)I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and ^(W)I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷ I ^(X)will take you to be my people, and ^(Y)I will be your God, and you shall know that ^(Z)I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out ^(AA)from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you into ^(AB)the land that I ^(AC)swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. ^(AD)I am the Lord.’” ⁹ Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they ^(AE)did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have ^(AF)not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for ^(AG)I am of uncircumcised lips?” ¹³ But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴ These are the heads of their fathers' houses: the ^(AH)sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. ¹⁵ The ^(AI)sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. ¹⁶ These are the names of the ^(AJ)sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. ¹⁷ The ^(AK)sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. ¹⁸ The ^(AL)sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. ¹⁹ The ^(AM)sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. ^20 (AN)Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father's sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. ^21 (AO)The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²² The ^(AP)sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. ²³ Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of ^(AQ)Amminadab and the sister of ^(AR)Nahshon, and she bore him ^(AS)Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴ The ^(AT)sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. ²⁵ Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and ^(AU)she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites by their clans.

²⁶ These are the Aaron and Moses ^(AV)to whom the Lord said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt ^(AW)by their hosts.” ²⁷ It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.

²⁸ On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ the Lord said to Moses, ^(AX)“I am the Lord; ^(AY)tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, ^(AZ)I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like ^(BA)God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your ^(BB)prophet. ^2 (BC)You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. ³ But ^(BD)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I ^(BE)multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians ^(BF)shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Now Moses was ^(BG)eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ^(BH)‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the ^(BI)magicians of Egypt, also ^(BJ)did the same by their secret arts. ¹² For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Still ^(BK)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(BL)as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. ^15 (BM)Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand ^(BN)the staff that turned into a ^(BO)serpent. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The ^(BP)Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, ^(BQ)that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, “By this ^(BR)you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and ^(BS)it shall turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ^(BT)grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^(BU)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he ^(BV)lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the ^(BW)water in the Nile turned into blood. ²¹ And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians ^(BX)could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. ²² But ^(BY)the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So ^(BZ)Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as ^(CA)the Lord had said. ²³ Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

²⁵ Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.