God Commands Moses and Aaron

1And Jehovah will say to Moses, See, I gave thee a God to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2Thou shalt speak all that I shall command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak to Pharaoh, and he sent forth the sons of Israel out of his land. 3And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I multiplied my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4And Pharaoh will not hear to you; and I gave ray hand upon Egypt, and I brought forth my army, my people the sons of Israel, out of Egypt, with great judgments. 5And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, in my stretching out my hand over Egypt, and my bringing forth the sons of Israel from the midst of them. 6And Moses will do, and Aaron, as Jehovah commanded them, so did they. 7And Moses the son of eighty years, and Aaron the son of three and eighty years, in their speaking to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff

8And Jehovah will speak to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 9When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Give ye a wonder for you; and say to Aaron, Take thy rod and cast down before Pharaoh, it shall be into a dragon. 10And Moses will go, and Aaron, to Pharaoh, and they will do thus as Jehovah commanded: and Aaron will cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it will be into a dragon. 11And Pharaoh also will call to the wise men and to the magicians; and the sacred scribes of Egypt, they also will do so with their enchantments. 12And they will cast down each their rod, and they will be for dragons: and Aaron's rod swallowed their rods. 13And Pharaoh's heart will be strengthened, and he will not hear to them; as Jehovah said.

The First Plague: Blood

14And Jehovah will say to Moses, Pharaoh's heart was heavy; he refused to send forth the people. 15Go to Pharaoh in the morning; behold, he will go forth to the water, and standing to meet him at the lip of the river: and the rod which was turned into a serpent thou shalt take in thy hand. 16And say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to thee, saying, Send forth my people, and they shall serve me in the desert: and behold, thou didst not hear until now. 17Thus said Jehovah, In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah: Behold me smiting with the rod which is in my hand upon the waters that in the river, and they were turned into blood. 18And the fish which is in the river shall die, and the river be loathsome: and the Egyptians labored in vain to drink the water from the river. 19And Jehovah will speak to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, upon their rivers, upon their canals, and upon their pools, and upon all the collections of their waters, and they shall be blood: and blood was in all the land of Egypt, and in wood, and in stones.

20And Moses and Aaron will do so as Jehovah commanded; and he will lift up the rod and will smite the water which is in the river, in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants; and all the waters which are in the river shall be turned to blood. 21And the fish which was in the river died; and the river will be loathsome; and the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the river: and the blood will be upon all the land of Egypt. 22And the sacred scribes of Egypt will do so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart will be strong, and he heard not to them as Jehovah spake. 23And Pharaoh will turn and will go to his house, and he did not set his heart also to this. 24And all the Egyptians will dig round about the river for water to drink; for they will not be able to drink from the water of the river. 25And seven days will be filled up after Jehovah struck the river.