¹Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."

²God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD; ³and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. ⁴"I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. ⁵"Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶"Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. <sup>7</sup> `Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ `I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.'" ⁹So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.

¹⁰Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹"Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land." ¹²But Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, "Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?" ¹³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Heads of Israel

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers' households. The sons of Reuben, Israel's firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. ¹⁵The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the length of Levi's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. ¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. ¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath's life was one hundred and thirty-three years. ¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. ²⁰Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the length of Amram's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. ²¹The sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. ²²The sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri. ²³Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵Aaron's son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites according to their families. ²⁶It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts." ²⁷They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.

²⁸Now it came about on the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "I am the LORD; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you." ³⁰But Moses said before the LORD, "Behold, I am unskilled in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?"

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. ²"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. ³"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴"When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. ⁵"The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst." ⁶So Moses and Aaron did it; as the LORD commanded them, thus they did. ⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron's Rod Becomes a Serpent

⁸Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ⁹"When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, `Work a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, `Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'" ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians 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 up their staffs. ¹³Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Water Is Turned to Blood

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵"Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water, and station 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. ¹⁶"You shall say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now." <sup>17</sup> `Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. ¹⁸"The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile."'" ¹⁹Then the LORD 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 pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

²⁰So Moses and Aaron did even as the LORD had commanded. And he lifted up the 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 to blood. ²¹The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. ²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said. ²³Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this. ²⁴So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile. ²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.