God Commands Moses and Aaron 1 UDB Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Listen to me. I will cause the king to see you as a god, and Aaron will be like a prophet because he will speak for you. BSB BSB: The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
2 UDB You must tell everything I command you to your older brother Aaron, and he will tell it all to the king. He must tell the king to let the Israelite people leave his land. BSB BSB: You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.
3 UDB But I will make the king stubborn. Because of this, even though I will do many kinds of miracles here in Egypt, BSB BSB: But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
4 UDB the king will not believe what you say. Then I will punish the people of Egypt very severely, and I will lead the tribes of my Israelite people out of Egypt. BSB BSB: Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
5 UDB Then, when I show my great power to the Egyptian people and bring the Israelite people out from among them, they will know that I am Yahweh, the all-powerful God." BSB BSB: And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
6 UDB Aaron and Moses did everything that Yahweh told them to do. BSB BSB: So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them.
7 UDB At that time, Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83 years old. BSB BSB: Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Aaron’s Staff 8 UDB Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, BSB BSB: The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9 UDB "If the king says to you, 'Show me that God sent you by performing a miracle,' then say to Aaron, 'Throw your staff down in front of the king in order that it may become a snake.'" BSB BSB: “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”
10 UDB So Aaron and Moses went to the king and did what Yahweh told them to do. Aaron threw his staff down in front of the king and his officials, and it became a snake. BSB BSB: So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
11 UDB Then the king called his sorcerers and men who did magic. They did the same thing, using their magic. BSB BSB: But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.
12 UDB They all threw down their staffs, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron's staff, which had become a snake, swallowed up all their snakes! BSB BSB: Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.
13 UDB But the king continued to be stubborn, just as Yahweh had said he would, and he would not believe what Aaron and Moses said. BSB BSB: Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
The First Plague: Blood 14 UDB Then Yahweh said to Moses, "The king is very stubborn. He refuses to allow my people to go. BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
15 UDB So tomorrow morning, go to him as he is going down to the Nile River to bathe. Wait for him on the riverbank. When he comes out of the water, show him the staff, the one that had become a snake. BSB BSB: Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
16 UDB Say to him, 'Yahweh God, the one we Hebrews worship, sent me to you to tell you to let my people go in order that they may worship him in the desert. We told you that, but you have not listened to us. BSB BSB: Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.
17 UDB So now Yahweh says this: "This is the way you will know that I am Yahweh, the all-powerful God. I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile River with the staff that is in my hand. When I do that, the water will become blood. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood.
18 UDB Then the fish in the Nile River will die, and the water in the river will smell bad. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the river."'" BSB BSB: The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
19 UDB Yahweh said to Moses, "When you are talking to the king, say to Aaron, 'Hold your staff out as though you were holding it over all the water in Egypt—over the rivers, the canals, the ponds, and over the pools of water, in order that all of it may become blood.' When Aaron does that, there will be blood throughout Egypt, even in wooden jars and in stone jars." BSB BSB: And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”
20 UDB So Aaron and Moses did what Yahweh told them to do. As the king and his officials were watching, Aaron lifted up his staff and then struck the water in the Nile River with it. All the water in the river turned to blood. BSB BSB: Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood.
21 UDB Then all the fish died. The water smelled bad, with the result that the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. Everywhere in Egypt the water became red like blood. BSB BSB: The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.
22 UDB But the Egyptian men who did magic did the same thing using their magic. So the king remained stubborn, and he would not listen to what Aaron and Moses said, just as Yahweh said would happen. BSB BSB: But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.
23 UDB Then the king turned and went back to his palace, and he did not think any more about it. BSB BSB: Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart.
24 UDB All the Egyptians dug into the ground near the Nile River to get water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river. BSB BSB: So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
25 UDB Then one week passed after Yahweh turned the water in the Nile River into blood. BSB BSB: And seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.