Exodus 7:1-8:19

English Standard Version

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like ^(A)God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your ^(B)prophet. ^2 (C)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 ^(D)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I ^(E)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 ^(F)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 ^(G)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, ^(H)‘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 ^(I)magicians of Egypt, also ^(J)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 ^(K)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(L)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 (M)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 ^(N)the staff that turned into a ^(O)serpent. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The ^(P)Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, ^(Q)that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, “By this ^(R)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 ^(S)it shall turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ^(T)grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^(U)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 ^(V)lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the ^(W)water in the Nile turned into blood. ²¹ And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians ^(X)could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. ²² But ^(Y)the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So ^(Z)Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as ^(AA)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.

The Second Plague: Frogs

8 ^[a] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that ^(AB)they may serve me. ² But if you ^(AC)refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with ^(AD)frogs. ³ The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into ^(AE)your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people,^[b] and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. ⁴ The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’” ^5 [c] And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^(AF)‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and ^(AG)the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷ But ^(AH)the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, ^(AI)“Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and ^(AJ)I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” ⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when ^(AK)I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” ¹⁰ And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so ^(AL)that you may know that ^(AM)there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” ¹² So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.^{[d] 13} And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. ¹⁴ And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was a ^(AN)respite, he ^(AO)hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Gnats

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^(AP)‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” ¹⁷ And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and ^(AQ)there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ The ^(AR)magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. ¹⁹ Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is ^(AS)the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.