Exodus 7:17–24

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.