7Exodus 7

1The Lord said, “I am going to make you like God to the king, and your brother Aaron will speak to him as your prophet.Select Exodus 7:1

2Tell Aaron everything I command you, and he will tell the king to let the Israelites leave his country.Select Exodus 7:2

4But I will make the king stubborn, and he will not listen to you, no matter how many terrifying things I do in Egypt. Then I will bring severe punishment on Egypt and lead the tribes of my people out of the land.Select Exodus 7:4

5The Egyptians will then know that I am the Lord, when I raise my hand against them and bring the Israelites out of their country.”Select Exodus 7:5

6Moses and Aaron did what the Lord commanded.Select Exodus 7:6

7At the time when they spoke to the king, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three.Select Exodus 7:7

Aaron's Walking Stick

8The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,Select Exodus 7:8

9“If the king demands that you prove yourselves by performing a miracle, tell Aaron to take his walking stick and throw it down in front of the king, and it will turn into a snake.”Select Exodus 7:9

10So Moses and Aaron went to the king and did as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw his walking stick down in front of the king and his officers, and it turned into a snake.Select Exodus 7:10

11Then the king called for his wise men and magicians, and by their magic they did the same thing.Select Exodus 7:11

12They threw down their walking sticks, and the sticks turned into snakes. But Aaron's stick swallowed theirs.Select Exodus 7:12

13The king, however, remained stubborn and, just as the Lord had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.Select Exodus 7:13

Disasters Strike Egypt / Blood

14Then the Lord said to Moses, “The king is very stubborn and refuses to let the people go.Select Exodus 7:14

15So go and meet him in the morning when he goes down to the Nile. Take with you the walking stick that was turned into a snake, and wait for him on the riverbank.Select Exodus 7:15

16Then say to the king, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to tell you to let his people go, so that they can worship him in the desert. But until now you have not listened.Select Exodus 7:16

17Now, Your Majesty, the Lord says that you will find out who he is by what he is going to do. Look, I am going to strike the surface of the river with this stick, and the water will be turned into blood.Select Exodus 7:17

18The fish will die, and the river will stink so much that the Egyptians will not be able to drink from it.’”Select Exodus 7:18

19The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to take his stick and hold it out over all the rivers, canals, and pools in Egypt. The water will become blood, and all over the land there will be blood, even in the wooden tubs and stone jars.”Select Exodus 7:19

20Then Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the presence of the king and his officers, Aaron raised his stick and struck the surface of the river, and all the water in it was turned into blood.Select Exodus 7:20

21The fish in the river died, and it smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink from it. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.Select Exodus 7:21

22Then the king's magicians did the same thing by means of their magic, and the king was as stubborn as ever. Just as the Lord had said, the king refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.Select Exodus 7:22

23Instead, he turned and went back to his palace without paying any attention even to this.Select Exodus 7:23

24All the Egyptians dug along the bank of the river for drinking water, because they were not able to drink water from the river.Select Exodus 7:24

25Seven days passed after the Lord struck the river.Select Exodus 7:25