“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.”
But Moses spoke to the LORD, “The Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?”[14 (#ulink_f54bde9c-5938-5a75-9961-efa7618b067c)]
Thus the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, charging them to free the Israelites from the land of Egypt.
14 The following are the heads of their ancestral houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.
The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul,[15 (#ulink_6bcd9353-7da2-5914-b04b-a1c394bb899b)] the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.
The following are the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies: Gershon,[16 (#ulink_438bbcdf-66a8-5ffb-b5d7-72d63fbe7181)] Kohath, and Merari, and the length of Levi’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years.
The sons of Gershon:[16 (#ulink_438bbcdf-66a8-5ffb-b5d7-72d63fbe7181)] Libni and Shimei, by their families.
The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred thirty-three years.
The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their genealogies.
Amram married Jochebed his father’s sister and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the length of Amram’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years.
The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.
Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites by their families.
26 It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.”
It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, the same Moses and Aaron.
28 On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.”
But Moses said in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am a poor speaker,[17 (#ulink_35758f23-e836-5ad3-941c-f308e81d0a2e)] why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
7 The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.
When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.
Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’”
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.
Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts.
Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs.
Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.
Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.
Say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened.
Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD.” See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.
The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.’”
The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water—so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood,
and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.
But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.
And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.
25 Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.
8 [18 (#ulink_e2e76b4f-dd22-5313-b441-8f3303621464)] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.
The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people,[19 (#ulink_d7dbd5a4-3f71-5d72-af1f-6136df014e26)] and into your ovens and your kneading bowls.
The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials.’”
[20 (#ulink_d9299cdc-700d-51fb-90e9-c6923bad838f)]And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”
