1Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

2As for you, you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

4When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My armies, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.

5Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

6So Moses and Aaron did this; as the Lord commanded them, so they did.

7And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron Lit 83 years oldeighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

9“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Lit Show a wonder for yourselvesWork a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may turn into a serpent.’ ”

10So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and so they did, just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and Lit before hishis servants, and it turned into a serpent.

11Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

12For each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

13Yet Pharaoh’s heart was Lit stronghardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is Or hard; lit heavystubborn; he refuses to let the people go.

15Go to Pharaoh in the morning Lit beholdjust as he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

16And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.”

17This is what the Lord says: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike Lit upon the watersthe water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.

18Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will Lit be weary ofno longer be able to drink water from the Nile.” ’ ”

19Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their Or canalsstreams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’ ”

20So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up Lit with the staffthe staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.

21Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

22But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was Lit stronghardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

23Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house Lit and he did not set his heart even to thiswith no concern even for this.

24So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile.

25Seven days Lit were fulfilledpassed after the Lord had struck the Nile.