Exodus 6:1–8:4

Yahweh Discusses His Name and Israel’s Future

6And Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, because with a strong hand he will release them, and with a strong hand he will drive them out from his land.”

²And God spoke to Moses, and he said to him, “I am Yahweh. ³And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Shaddai,^a but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them. ⁴And I not only established my covenant with them to give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, in which they dwelt as aliens, ⁵but also I myself heard the groaning of the Israelites,^b whom the Egyptians are making to work, and I remembered my covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the Israelites,^c ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the forced labor^d of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great punishments. ⁷And I will take you as my people,^e and I will be your God,^f and you will know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the forced labor^g of Egypt. ⁸And I will bring you to the land that I swore^h to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh.”

⁹And Moses spoke thus to the Israelites,ⁱ but they did not listen to Moses, because of discouragement^j and because of hard work.

¹⁰And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“Go, speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and let him release the Israelites^k from his land.” ¹²And Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Look, the Israelites^l do not listen to me, and how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am a poor speaker?”^{m 13}And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and he commanded them to go to the Israelitesⁿ and to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites^o out from the land of Egypt.

The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴These are the heads of their families.^p

The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, are Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵And the sons of Simeon are Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jakin and Zohar and Shaul the son of the Canaanitess.^q These are the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies:^r Gershon and Kohath and Merari, and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven years.^s

¹⁷The sons of Gershon are Libni and Shimei according to their clans.

¹⁸And the sons of Kohath are Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel, and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three years.^t

¹⁹And the sons of Merari are Mahli and Mushi. These are clans of the Levites according to their genealogies.^u

²⁰And Amram took Jochebed his aunt for himself as a wife, and she bore for him Aaron and Moses, and the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven years.^v

²¹And the sons of Izhar are Korah and Nepheg and Zikri.

²²And the sons of Uzziel are Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri.

²³And Aaron took Elisheba the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, for himself as a wife, and she bore for him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴And the sons of Korah are Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.

²⁵And Eleazar the son of Aaron took for himself one from the daughters of Putiel as a wife, and she bore for him Phinehas. These are the heads of the families^w of the Levites according to their clans.

²⁶It was that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “Bring the Israelites^x out from the land of Egypt according to their divisions.” ²⁷They were those who spoke to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites^y out from Egypt. It was that Moses and Aaron.

²⁸And so it was on a certain day^z Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt. ²⁹And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “I am Yahweh. Speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, all that I am speaking to you.” ³⁰And Moses said before Yahweh, “Look, I am a poor speaker.^a And how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Yahweh Reviews Plans for Bringing the Israelites out of Egypt

7And Yahweh said to Moses, “See, I have made you as a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ²You will speak all that I will command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, and he will release the Israelites^a from his land. ³And I myself will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will make my signs and my wonders numerous in the land of Egypt. ⁴And Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will put my hand into Egypt and bring out my divisions, my people, the Israelites,^b from the land of Egypt with great punishments. ⁵And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring the Israelites^c out from their midst.”

⁶And Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, so they did. ⁷(And Moses was eighty years old,^d and Aaron was eighty-three years old^e when they spoke to Pharaoh.)

Provision of a Wonder: Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Do a wonder for yourselves,’ you will say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’ ” ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. And Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a snake.

¹¹And Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did likewise with their secret arts. ¹²Each threw down his staff, and they became snakes, and Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³And Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had said.

Plague One: Blood

¹⁴And Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is insensitive;^f he refuses to release the people. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Look, he is going out to the water, and you must wait to meet him on the bank of the Nile, and you must take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶And you must say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Release my people that they may serve me in the desert, and, look, you have not listened until now.” ¹⁷Thus says Yahweh, “By this you will know that I am Yahweh. Look, I am about to strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the Nile, and it will be changed to blood. ¹⁸And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile.” ’ ”

¹⁹And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch your hand out over the waters of Egypt and over their rivers, over their canals, and over their pools and over all of their reservoirs of water, so that they become blood,’ and blood will be in all the land of Egypt and in vessels of wood and of stone.”

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh had commanded, and he raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all of the water that was in the Nile was changed to blood. ²¹And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, and the Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile, and the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

²²And the magicians of Egypt did likewise with their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken. ²³And Pharaoh turned and went to his house, and this also he did not take to heart.^{g 24}And all of the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they were unable to drink from the water of the Nile.

²⁵And seven days passed after Yahweh struck the Nile.

Plague Two: Frogs

8^a And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Release my people so that they may serve me.” ²And if you are refusing to release, look, I am going to plague all of your territory with frogs. ³And the Nile will swarm with frogs, and they will go up and come into your house and into your bedroom^b and onto your bed and into the house of your servants and among your people and into your ovens and into your kneading troughs. ⁴And the frogs will go up against you and against your people and against all of your servants.’ ”