Exodus 6–7

6Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For ^awith a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand ^bhe will drive them out of his land.”

²And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am ¹the Lord. ^3cI appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ^dGod Almighty, but by My name ^eLord ²I was not known to them. ^4fI have also ³established My covenant with them, ^gto give them the land of Canaan, the land of their ⁴pilgrimage, ^hin which they were ⁵strangers. ⁵And ⁱI have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the children of Israel: ^j‘I am the Lord; ^kI will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will ^lrescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with ⁶an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷I will ^mtake you as My people, and ⁿI will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out ^ofrom under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you into the land which I ^pswore ⁷to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” ⁹So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; ^qbut they did not heed Moses, because of ^ranguish ⁸of spirit and cruel bondage.

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

¹²And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for ^sI am ⁹of uncircumcised lips?”

¹³Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a ^tcommand ¹for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Family of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: ^uThe sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. ^15vAnd the sons of Simeon were ²Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶These are the names of ^wthe sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^17xThe sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. ¹⁸And ^ythe sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. ^19zThe sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

²⁰Now ^aAmram took for himself ^bJochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him ^cAaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^21dThe sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²²And ^ethe sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. ²³Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of ^fAmminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him ^gNadab, Abihu, ^hEleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴And ⁱthe sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and ^jshe bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^karmies.” ³²⁷These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, ^lto bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron is Moses’ Spokesman

²⁸And it came to pass, on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. ^mSpeak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

³⁰But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, ⁿI am ⁴of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”

7So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you ^aas God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be ^byour prophet. ²You ^cshall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. ³And ^dI will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and ^emultiply My ^fsigns and My wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴But ^gPharaoh will not heed you, so ^hthat I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My ¹armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt ⁱby great judgments. ⁵And the Egyptians ^jshall know that I am the Lord, when I ^kstretch out My hand on Egypt and ^lbring out the children of Israel from among them.”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron ^mdid so; just as the Lord commanded them, so they did. ⁷And Moses was ⁿeighty years old and ^oAaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Miraculous Rod

⁸Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ^p‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ^q‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just ^ras the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it ^sbecame a serpent.

¹¹But Pharaoh also ^tcalled the wise men and ^uthe ²sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also ^vdid in like manner with their ³enchantments. ¹²For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. ¹³And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Waters Become Blood

¹⁴So the Lord said to Moses: ^w“Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the ^xwater, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and ^ythe rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. ¹⁶And you shall say to him, ^z‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, ^athat they may ⁴serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! ¹⁷Thus says the Lord: “By this ^byou shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and ^cthey shall be turned ^dto blood. ¹⁸And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will ^eloathe ⁵to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and ^fstretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” ²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he ^glifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the ^hwaters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians ⁱcould not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

^22jThen the magicians of Egypt did ^kso with their ⁶enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, ^las the Lord had said. ²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. ²⁴So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. ²⁵And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.