Exodus 6:1–8:4

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.

CHAPTER 8

The Plague of Frogs

¹¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “^aLet My people go, that they may serve Me.

²“But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I ¹will smite your whole territory with frogs.

³“And the Nile will ^aswarm with frogs, and they will go up and come into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and on your people and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls.

⁴“So the frogs will come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.” ’ ”