Exodus 6–8

Chapter 6

And the Lord said to Moses: Now thou shalt see what I will do to Pharao: for by a mighty hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he cast them out of his land.

²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord

³That appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty: and my name ADONAI I did not shew them.

⁴And I made a covenant with them, to give them the land of Chanaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers.

⁵I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, wherewith the Egyptians have oppressed them: and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord who will bring you out from the work-prison of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from bondage: and redeem you with a high arm, and great judgments.

⁷And I will take you to myself for my people, I will be your God: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the work-prison of the Egyptians:

⁸And brought you into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and I will give it you to possess: I am the Lord.

⁹And Moses told all this to the children of Israel: but they did not hearken to him, for anguish of spirit, and most painful work.

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

¹¹Go in, and speak to Pharao king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

¹²Moses answered before the Lord: Behold the children of Israel do not hearken to me: and how will Pharao hear me, especially as I am of uncircumcised lips?

¹³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and he gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharao the king of Egypt, that they should bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These are the heads of their houses by their families. The sons of Ruben the firstborn of Israel: Henoch and Phallu, Hesron and Charmi.

¹⁵These are the kindreds of Ruben. The sons of Simeon, Jamuel and Jamin, and Ahod, and Jachin, and Soar, and Saul the son of a Chanaanitess: these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶And these are the names of the sons of Levi by their kindreds: Gerson, and Caath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred and thirty-seven.

¹⁷The sons of Gerson: Lobni and Semei, by their kindreds.

¹⁸The sons of Caath: Amram, and Isaar, and Hebron and Oziel. And the years of Caath’s life, were a hundred and thirty-three.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi. These are the kindreds of Levi by their families.

²⁰And Amram took to wife Jochabed his aunt by the father’s side: and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of Amram’s life, were a hundred and thirty-seven.

²¹The sons also of Isaar: Core, and Nepheg, and Zechri.

²²The sons also of Oziel: Mizael, and Elizaphan, and Sethri.

²³And Aaron took to wife Elizabeth the daughter of Aminadab, sister of Nahason, who bore him Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons also of Core: Aser, and Elcana, and Abiasaph. These are the kindreds of the Corites.

²⁵But Eleazar the son of Aaron took a wife of the daughters of Phutiel: and she bore him Phinees. These are the heads of the Levitical families by their kindreds.

²⁶These are Aaron and Moses, whom the Lord commanded to bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.

²⁷These are they that speak to Pharao, king of Egypt, in order to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron,

²⁸In the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt.

²⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord; speak thou to Pharao, king of Egypt, all that I say to thee.

³⁰And Moses said before the Lord: Lo I am of uncircumcised lips, how will Pharao hear me?

Chapter 7

And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I have appointed thee the god of Pharao; and Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy prophet.

²Thou shalt speak to him all that I command thee; and he shall speak to Pharao, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

³But I shall harden his heart, and shall multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴And he will not hear you: and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and will bring forth my army and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, by very great judgments.

⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, who have stretched forth my hand upon Egypt, and have brought forth the children of Israel out of the midst of them.

⁶And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded; so did they.

⁷And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharao.

⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

⁹When Pharao shall say to you, Shew signs; thou shalt say to Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharao, and it shall be turned into a serpent.

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharao, and did as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron took the rod before Pharao and his servants, and it was turned into a serpent.

¹¹And Pharao called the wise men and the magicians; and they also by Egyptian enchantments and certain secrets, did in like manner.

¹²And they every one cast down their rods, and they were turned into serpents: but Aaron’s rod devoured their rods.

¹³And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses: Pharao’s heart is hardened, he will not let the people go.

¹⁵Go to him in the morning, behold he will go out to the waters: and thou shalt stand to meet him on the bank of the river: and thou shalt take in thy hand the rod that was turned into a serpent.

¹⁶And thou shalt say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to thee, saying: Let my people go to sacrifice to me in the desert: and hitherto thou wouldst not hear.

¹⁷Thus therefore saith the Lord: In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold I will strike with the rod, that is in my hand, the water of the river, and it shall be turned into blood.

¹⁸And the fishes that are in the river, shall die, and the waters shall be corrupted, and the Egyptians shall be afflicted when they drink the water of the river.

¹⁹The Lord also said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Take thy rod; and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone.

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded: and lifting up the rod, he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants: and it was turned into blood.

²¹And the fishes that were in the river died; and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt.

²²And the magicians of the Egyptians with their enchantments did in like manner; and Pharao’s heart was hardened, neither did he hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

²³And he turned himself away, and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to it this time also.

²⁴And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

²⁵And seven days were fully ended, after that the Lord struck the river.

Chapter 8

And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

²But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs.

³And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs; which shall come up and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats:

⁴And the frogs shall come in to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants.

⁵And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams, and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.

⁶And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

⁷And the magicians also, by their enchantments, did in like manner, and they brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.

⁸But Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

⁹And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and may remain only in the river.

¹⁰And he answered: To morrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like to the Lord our God.

¹¹And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river.

¹²And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs.

¹³And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields:

¹⁴And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted.

¹⁵And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth; and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁷And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod; and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸And the magicians with their enchantments practised in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not: and there were sciniphs as well…