Exodus 7 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Yahweh said to Moses, "Look — I've made you to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your
You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron will tell Pharaoh to let the leave his country.
But I will and even though I multiply my and in Egypt,
Pharaoh won't listen to you. Then I will my down on Egypt and lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt by great of
And the Egyptians will that I am when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.
Moses and Aaron did exactly what Yahweh commanded them.
Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,
"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Prove yourselves with a tell Aaron to take his staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it will become a
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did exactly what Yahweh had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
But Pharaoh called in his own and and the Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their
Each one threw down his staff and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
But Pharaoh's and he refused to listen to them — exactly as Yahweh had said.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh is in — he refuses to let the people go.
Go to Pharaoh in the morning — he'll be heading down to the water. Wait for him on the bank of the and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.
Say to him: 'Yahweh, the God of the sent me to tell you: Let my people go so they can me in the wilderness. But so far, you haven't listened.
This is what Yahweh says: Here's how you'll know that I am Yahweh — I'm going to strike the water of the Nile with this staff in my hand, and it will turn to
The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink so badly that the Egyptians won't be able to stomach drinking from it.'"
Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron to take his staff and stretch out his hand over the waters of Egypt — over their and every reservoir — and they will turn to blood. There will be blood throughout all of Egypt, even in wooden buckets and stone jars."
Moses and Aaron did exactly as Yahweh commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the water of the Nile right in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and all the water in the Nile turned to blood.
The fish in the Nile died, and the river reeked so badly that the Egyptians couldn't drink from it. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.
But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their dark arts, so Pharaoh's heart became hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron — exactly as Yahweh had said.
Pharaoh turned around, went back into his palace, and this to
All the Egyptians dug along the banks of the Nile searching for drinking water, because they couldn't drink from the river itself.
passed after Yahweh struck the Nile.