Exodus 7

7 ¹ Our Father said to Moses, "See, I have made you like our Father to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ² You will speak everything I command you, and Aaron your brother will tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his land. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians will know that I am the Father when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them."

⁶ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as our Father had commanded them. ⁷ Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Then our Father said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹ "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Work a miracle to prove yourselves,' then you will say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.'"

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as our Father had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh also summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. ¹² Each one threw down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as our Father had said.

The Nile Turns to Blood

¹⁴ Then our Father said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes down to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and carry the staff that turned into a serpent. ¹⁶ And say to him, 'our Father of the Hebrews sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness." But until now you have not listened. ¹⁷ Thus says our Father: "By this you will know that I am the Father. Look, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it will turn to blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will not be able to bear to drink water from the Nile."'"

¹⁹ Our Father said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over their rivers, their canals, their ponds, and all their pools of water — so that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and vessels of stone.'"

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as our Father had commanded. Before Pharaoh and his servants, he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned to blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. ²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as our Father had said. ²³ Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile. ²⁵ Seven full days passed after our Father struck the Nile.