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¹Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

²But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the LORD that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

³They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

⁴The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!”

⁵Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”

⁶That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers of the people as well as their foremen:

⁷“Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers — that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

⁹Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”

¹⁰So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not giving you straw.

¹¹Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’”

¹²So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

¹³The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

¹⁴Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

¹⁵So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?

¹⁶No straw has been given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”

¹⁷But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the LORD.’

¹⁸Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You cannot reduce your daily quota of bricks.”

²⁰When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.

²¹“May the LORD take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek to Pharaoh and his officials — putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”

²²So Moses went back to the LORD and asked, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? And why did you ever send me?

²³Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has caused trouble for this people, and you haven’t rescued your people at all.”

¹But the LORD replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”

²Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the LORD.

³I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the LORD.’

⁴I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens.

⁵Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶“Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment.

⁷I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians.

⁸I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.”

⁹Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.

¹⁰Then the LORD spoke to Moses,

¹¹“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go from his land.”

¹²But Moses said in the LORD’s presence: “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am such a poor speaker?”

¹³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them commands concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ families: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their family records; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their family records.

²⁰Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

²¹The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon. She bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.

²⁵Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the Levite families by their clans.

²⁶It was this Aaron and Moses whom the LORD told, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their military divisions.”

²⁷Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

²⁸On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”

³⁰But Moses replied in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

¹The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

²You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

⁵The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the LORD commanded them.

⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

¹¹But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers — the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.

¹²Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

¹³However, Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard: He refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.

¹⁶Tell 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 so far you have not listened.

¹⁷This is what the LORD says: Here is how you will know that I am the LORD. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

¹⁹So the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs — and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.

²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

²³Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t take even this to heart.

²⁴All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river.

²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile.