Exodus 7New King James Version
Moses Before Pharaoh
7 So theLordsaid to Moses: “See, I have made you(A)asGod to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be(B)your prophet.2 You(C)shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land.3 And(D)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and(E)multiply My(F)signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.4 But(G)Pharaoh will not heed you, so(H)that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My[a]armiesandMy people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt(I)by great judgments.5 And the Egyptians(J)shall know that IamtheLord, when I(K)stretch out My hand on Egypt and(L)bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
6 Then Moses and Aaron(M)didso;just as theLordcommanded them, so they did.7 And Moseswas(N)eighty years old and(O)Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Aaron’s Miraculous Rod(P)
8 Then theLordspoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying,(Q)‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron,(R)‘Take your rod and castitbefore Pharaoh,andlet it become a serpent.’ ”10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just(S)as theLordcommanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it(T)became a serpent.
11 But Pharaoh also(U)called the wise men and(V)the[b]sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also(W)did in like manner with their[c]enchantments.12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.13 And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as theLordhad said.
The First Plague: Waters Become Blood
14 So theLordsaid to Moses:(X)“Pharaoh’s heartishard; he refuses to let the people go.15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the(Y)water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and(Z)the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.16 And you shall say to him,(AA)‘TheLordGod of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go,(AB)that they may[d]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear!17 Thus says theLord: “By this(AC)you shall know that IamtheLord. Behold, I will strike the waters whicharein the river with the rod thatisin my hand, and(AD)they shall be turned(AE)to blood.18 And the fish thatarein the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will(AF)loathe[e]to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”
19 Then theLordspoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and(AG)stretch 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 inbuckets ofwood andpitchers ofstone.’ ”20 And Moses and Aaron did so, just as theLordcommanded. So he(AH)lifted up the rod and struck the waters thatwerein the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the(AI)waters thatwerein the river were turned to blood.21 The fish thatwerein the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians(AJ)could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 (AK)Then the magicians of Egypt did(AL)so with their[f]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them,(AM)as theLordhad said.23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this.24 So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.25 And seven days passed after theLordhad struck the river.
Footnotes
- Exodus 7:4hosts
- Exodus 7:11soothsayers
- Exodus 7:11secret arts
- Exodus 7:16worship
- Exodus 7:18be weary of drinking
- Exodus 7:22secret arts
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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