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Exodus 7

1Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, I have made you God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2You will speak everything I command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, so that he lets the sons of Israel go out of his land. 3But I will make Pharaoh's heart hard and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my companies, my people the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. 5The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the sons of Israel out from among them.” 6Moses and Aaron did so; just as Yahweh commanded them, so they did. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Produce a wonder for yourselves,’ say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it becomes a great serpent.’” 10Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as Yahweh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a great serpent. 11Pharaoh also called the wise men and sorcerers, and they too, the Egyptian magicians, did the same with their secret arts. 12Each threw down his staff, and they became great serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs. 13Pharaoh's heart grew firm, and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said.

14Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is heavy; he refuses to let the people go. 15Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Stand to meet him at the Nile's bank, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake. 16Say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying: Let my people go so that they may serve me in the wilderness. But look, you have not listened up to now. 17This is what Yahweh says: By this you will know that I am Yahweh. Look, with the staff in my hand I am going to strike the water in the Nile, and it will turn into blood. 18The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will find it impossible to drink water from the Nile.’”

19Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt's waters, over its rivers, its channels, its pools, and all its reservoirs of water, so that they become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.’” 20Moses and Aaron did just as Yahweh commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 21The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt. 22But the Egyptian magicians did the same with their secret arts. Pharaoh's heart grew firm, and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said. 23Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for drinking water, because they could not drink the Nile's water. 25Seven days passed after Yahweh struck the Nile.

Translation notes 5

7:1 — God to Pharaoh. Moses represents God, while Aaron functions as his prophet or spokesman. The Hebrew has no separate word meaning “like”; the description assigns roles rather than turning Moses into a deity.

7:3, 13–14 — Hard; firm; heavy. Three Hebrew roots describe Pharaoh's resistance. Verse 3 says God will make the heart hard; verse 13 says the heart grows firm without naming an agent; verse 14 calls it heavy. The differences are preserved without making the English phrases separate psychological diagnoses.

7:9–12 — Great serpent. The Hebrew tannin can name a large serpent or other formidable creature; “snake” in 4:3 and 7:15 translates a different word. A specific identification as a crocodile is uncertain.

7:19 — Containers. The Hebrew says “in the wood and in the stone.” “Containers” supplies the usual interpretation, though wooden and stone objects more generally have also been proposed.

7:25 — Chapter numbering. The Hebrew chapter continues for four more verses, which appear here as 8:1–4 under familiar English numbering. No text has been omitted.