²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and it smelled so bad that the Egyptians couldn’t drink any water from the river. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.

²² But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells. So Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had predicted. ²³ Pharaoh turned and went back to his palace. He dismissed the entire matter from his mind.