Exodus 6:1–7:25

Yahweh Remembers His Covenant

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for ^aby a strong hand he will let them go, and by a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am ^aYahweh;

³and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as ^1aGod Almighty, but by ^bMy name, Yahweh, I was not known to them.

⁴“And I also established ^aMy covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the ¹land in which they sojourned.

⁵“Furthermore I have ^aheard the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in slavery, and I have remembered My covenant.

⁶“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘^aI am Yahweh, and ^bI will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their slavery. I will also ^credeem you with ^dan outstretched arm and with great judgments.

⁷‘Then I will take you ^1afor My people, and ^bI will be ²your God; and ^cyou shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians.

⁸‘And I will bring you to the land which ^aI ¹swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and ^bI will give it to you for a possession; ^cI am Yahweh.’”

⁹So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on ^aaccount of their weakness of spirit and ¹hard slavery.

¹⁰Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹“^aCome, ¹tell Pharaoh king of Egypt ²to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”

¹²But Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; ^ahow then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of ^buncircumcised lips?”

¹³Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave them a command for the sons of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Heads of Israel’s Households

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ households. ^aThe sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵The ^asons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶These are the names of ^athe sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the years of Levi’s life were 137 years.

^17aThe sons of Gershon: ¹Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

^18aThe sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the years of Kohath’s life were 133 years.

^19aThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

^20aAnd Amram took his father’s sister Jochebed as a wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the years of Amram’s life were 137 years.

^21aThe sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri.

^22aThe sons of Uzziel: Mishael and ¹Elzaphan and Sithri.

²³And Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of ^aAmminadab, the sister of ^bNahshon, as a wife, and she bore him ^cNadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The ^asons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and ¹Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵And Aaron’s son ^aEleazar took one of the daughters of Putiel as a wife, and she bore him ^bPhinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “^aBring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^bhosts.”

²⁷They were the ones ^awho spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Will Speak for Moses

²⁸Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “^aI am Yahweh; ^bspeak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.”

³⁰But Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of ^auncircumcised lips; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?”

CHAPTER 7

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aSee, I ¹set you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

²“You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother ^aAaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

³“But ^aI will harden Pharaoh’s heart with stiffness that I may ^bmultiply My signs and My ¹wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴“But ^aPharaoh will not listen to you. And I will ¹set My hand upon Egypt and ^bbring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by ^cgreat judgments.

⁵“^aThen the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I ^bstretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron did it; ^aas Yahweh commanded them, thus they did.

⁷Now Moses was ^aeighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Serpent

⁸And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘^1aWork a miraculous wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘^bTake your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a ²serpent.’”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as Yahweh had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and ¹his ²servants, and it ^abecame a ³serpent.

¹¹Then Pharaoh also ^acalled for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the ^1bmagicians of Egypt, did ²the same with ^ctheir secret arts.

¹²And each one threw down his staff, and they became ¹serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

¹³Yet ^aPharaoh’s heart was ¹hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

The Plague of Water Turning to Blood

¹⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is ¹hard with firmness; he refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵“Go to Pharaoh in the morning ¹as ^ahe is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand ^bthe staff that was turned into a serpent.

¹⁶“^aAnd you shall say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “^bLet My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.”

¹⁷‘Thus says Yahweh, “^aBy this you shall know that I am Yahweh: behold, I am about to strike ¹the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and ^bit will be turned to blood.

¹⁸“^aAnd the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will ¹become foul, and the Egyptians will ^bbe weary of drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^astretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their ¹streams, and over their pools and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

²⁰So Moses and Aaron did thus, as Yahweh had commanded. And he raised up ^1athe staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and ^ball the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

²¹And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile ¹became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

^22aYet the ¹magicians of Egypt did ²the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was ³hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

²³Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not set his heart even on this.

²⁴So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile.

²⁵And seven full days ¹passed after Yahweh had struck the Nile.