Exodus 7
Open in the reader1He-Who-Is answered Drawn-Out, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
2You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the children of Strives-with-God go out of his land.
3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Two-Straits,
4Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Two-Straits, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the children of Strives-with-God out of the land of Two-Straits.
5And the Two-Straitsians will know that I am He-Who-Is, when I stretch out My hand against Two-Straits and bring the children of Strives-with-God out from among them.”
6So Drawn-Out and Aaron did just as He-Who-Is had commanded them.
7Drawn-Out was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8He-Who-Is said to Drawn-Out and Aaron,
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.”
10So Drawn-Out and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as He-Who-Is had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
11But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Two-Straits, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.
12Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.
13Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as He-Who-Is had said.
14Then He-Who-Is said to Drawn-Out, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
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.
16Then say to him, ‘He-Who-Is, the God of the Crosser, 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.
17This is what He-Who-Is says: By this you will know that I am He-Who-Is. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood.
18The fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Two-Straitsians will be unable to drink its water.’”
19And He-Who-Is said to Drawn-Out, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Two-Straits—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Two-Straits, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”
20Drawn-Out and Aaron did just as He-Who-Is had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood.
21The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile smelled so bad that the Two-Straitsians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Two-Straits.
22But the magicians of Two-Straits 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 He-Who-Is had said.
23Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart.
24So all the Two-Straitsians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the Nile.
25And seven full days passed after He-Who-Is had struck the Nile.
26Then He-Who-Is said to Drawn-Out, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what He-Who-Is says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
27But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.
28The Nile will teem with frogs, and they will come into your palace and up to your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls.
29The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”