Exodus 7

Modern

Literal

God Commands Moses and Aaron

¹The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

¹And YHWH said to Moses, “See, I have made you God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.

²You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.

²You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he may send out the sons of Israel from his land.

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

³And I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴Pharaoh will not listen to you.

Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

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

⁵And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am YHWH when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them.

⁶And Moses and Aaron did as YHWH commanded them; so they did.

⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁷And Moses was a son of eighty years and Aaron was a son of three and eighty years when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff

⁸The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

⁸And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

⁹“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”^a

⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Give for yourselves a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before the face of Pharaoh,’ let it become a monster.”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

¹⁰And Moses went in—and Aaron—to Pharaoh, and they did so, as YHWH had commanded. And Aaron cast down his staff before the face of Pharaoh and before the face of his servants, and it became a monster.

¹¹But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.

¹¹And Pharaoh also called for the wise men and for the sorcerers; and they—the magicians of Egypt—they also did so with their secret arts.

¹²Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.

¹²And each man cast down his staff, and they became monsters, and the staff of Aaron swallowed up their staffs.

¹³Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,^a and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

¹³And the heart of Pharaoh was strengthened, and he did not listen to them, as YHWH had spoken.

The First Plague: Blood

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding;^a he refuses to let the people go.

¹⁴And YHWH said to Moses, “The heart of Pharaoh is heavy; he has refused to send out. the people

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he is going out to the water, and you shall stand to meet him by the edge of the River. And the staff that was turned into a serpent you shall take in your hand.

¹⁶Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.

¹⁶And you shall say to him, ‘YHWH, God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying: Send out My people that they may serve Me in the wilderness. And behold, you would not listen until now.

¹⁷This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood.

¹⁷Thus says YHWH: By this you shall know that I am YHWH. Behold, I am striking with the staff that is in my hand upon the waters that are in the River, and they shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”

¹⁸And the fish that are in the River shall die, and the River shall stink. And the Egyptians shall be weary to drink water from the River.’”

¹⁹And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”

¹⁹And YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, and they shall become blood.’ And there shall be blood in all the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and in the vessels of stone.”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff^a and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood.

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, as YHWH had commanded; and he lifted up the staff and struck the waters that were in the River, in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, and all the waters that were in the River were turned to blood.

²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²¹And the fish that were in the River died, and the River stank, and Egypt was not able to drink water from the River, and the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

²²And the magicians of Egypt with their secret arts did so. And the heart of Pharaoh was strengthened, and he did not listen to them, as YHWH had spoken.

²³Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart.

²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not set his heart even to this.

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

²⁴And all Egypt dug around the River for water to drink, because they were not able to drink from the waters of the River.

²⁵And seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

²⁵And seven days were fulfilled after YHWH struck the river.