¹⁷“ ‘The Lord says, “Here is how you will know that I am the Lord. I will strike the water of the Nile River with the staff that is in my hand. The river will turn into blood. ¹⁸The fish in the river will die. The river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.” ’ ”

¹⁹The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Get your staff. Reach your hand out over the waters of Egypt. The streams, waterways, ponds and all of the lakes will turn into blood. There will be blood everywhere in Egypt. It will even be in the wooden buckets and stone jars.’ ”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did exactly as the Lord had commanded them. Aaron held out his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials. He struck the water of the Nile River. And all of the water turned into blood.

²¹The fish in the Nile died. The river smelled so bad the Egyptians couldn’t drink its water. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.

²²But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by doing their magic tricks. So Pharaoh’s heart became stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. ²³Even that miracle didn’t change Pharaoh’s mind. In fact, he turned around and went into his palace.

²⁴All of the Egyptians dug holes near the Nile River to get drinking water. They couldn’t drink water from the river.

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