Exodus 7–12

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.

The Second Plague: Frogs

8And the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, ^athat they may serve Me. ²But if you ^brefuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with ^cfrogs. ³So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your ^dbedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. ⁴And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.” ’ ”

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^e‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’ ” ⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and ^fthe frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ^7gAnd the magicians did so with their ¹enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, ^h“Entreat ²the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people ⁱgo, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁹And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.”

¹⁰So he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that ^jthere is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”

¹²Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses ^kcried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³So the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. ¹⁴They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was ^lrelief, ^mhe hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Lice

¹⁶So the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become ³lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and ⁿit became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸Now ^othe magicians so worked with their ⁴enchantments to bring forth lice, but they ^pcould not. So there were lice on man and beast. ¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is ^qthe ⁵finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s ^rheart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰And the Lord said to Moses, ^s“Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water. Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^t“Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²¹Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²²And in that day ^uI will set apart the land of ^vGoshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may ^wknow that I am the Lord in the midst of the ^xland. ²³I will ⁶make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this ^ysign shall be.” ’ ” ²⁴And the Lord did so. ^zThick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

²⁶And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing ^athe abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not ⁷stone us? ²⁷We will go ^bthree days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as ^cHe will command us.”

²⁸So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. ^dIntercede for me.”

²⁹Then Moses said, “Indeed I am going out from you, and I will entreat the Lord, that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. But let Pharaoh not ^edeal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

³⁰So Moses went out from Pharaoh and ^fentreated the Lord. ³¹And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. ³²But Pharaoh ^ghardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Diseased

9Then the Lord said to Moses, ^a“Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may ^bserve Me. ²For if you ^crefuse to let them go, and still hold them, ³behold, the ^dhand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence. ⁴And ^ethe Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ” ⁵Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.”

⁶So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and ^fall the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. ⁷Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the ^gheart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

⁸So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause ^hboils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they…