Bible Time

¹AND Yahvah said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ²You will speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his land. ³And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴But Pharaoh will not listen to you, that I may strike Egypt, and bring forth my hosts and my people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. ⁵And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahvah, when I lift up my hand against Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. ⁶And Moses and Aaron did as Yahvah commanded them, so they did. ⁷And Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸And Yahvah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ⁹If Pharaoh should say to you, Show me a sign; then you will say to Aaron, Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent. ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and they did as Yahvah had commanded; and Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and before his noblemen, and it became a serpent. ¹¹Then Pharaoh called the wise men and the magicians; now the magicians of Egypt, they also did the same with their magic. ¹²For they cast down every man his staff and they became serpents; but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³However Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and would not let them go, as Yahvah had said.

¹⁴Then Yahvah said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning; look, he goes out to his daily duty; and you stand toward him by the river's brink and wait; and take in your hand the staff which was turned into a serpent. ¹⁶And you will say to him, Yahvah God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness; and look, until now you have not listened. ¹⁷Thus says Yahvah, By this you will know that I am Yahvah: look, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike on the waters of the river, and they will be turned to blood. ¹⁸And the fish that are in the river will die, and the river will stink; and the Egyptians will loathe to drink of the water of the river. ¹⁹And Yahvah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your staff and lift up your hand on the waters of Egypt, on their rivers, on their ponds, and on all their pools of water, and on the streams, and they will become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in both vessels of wood and vessels of stone. ²⁰And Moses and Aaron did as Yahvah had commanded them; and Aaron lifted up the staff which was in his hand and struck the waters of the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood. ²¹And the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. ²²And the magicians of Egypt did the same by their enchantments; but Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not listen to them, as Yahvah had said. ²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take to heart even this sign. ²⁴And all the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. ²⁵And 7 days passed after Yahvah had struck the river.