Exodus 7

Chapter 7

“I Will Stretch Out My Hand”

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “^aSee, I make 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 that I may ^bmultiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴“When ^aPharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and ^bbring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by ^cgreat judgments.

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

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

⁷Moses was ^aeighty years old and Aaron ¹eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Rod Becomes a Serpent

⁸Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

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

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

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.

¹²For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

¹³Yet ^aPharaoh’s heart was ¹hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Water Is Turned to Blood

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is ¹stubborn; 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“^aYou shall say to him, ‘The Lord, 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 the Lord, “^aBy this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike ¹the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and ^bit will be turned to blood.

¹⁸“^aThe fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will ¹become foul, and the Egyptians will ^2bfind difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then the Lord 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 even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted 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.

²¹The 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.

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

²³Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house ¹with no concern even for this.

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

²⁵Seven days ¹passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.