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¹Afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go, so that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.'"

²But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go."

³Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go on a three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God, so that He does not discipline us with pestilence or with the sword."

⁴But the king of Egypt said to Moses and Aaron, "Why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens!"

⁵Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them stop their work!"

⁶The very same day Pharaoh gave orders to the [Egyptian] taskmasters in charge of the people and their [Hebrew] foremen, saying,

⁷"You will no longer give the people straw to make brick as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸But the number of bricks which they were making before, you shall [still] require of them; you are not to reduce it in the least. For they are idle and lazy; that is why they cry, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

⁹Let labor be heavier on the men, and let them work [hard] at it so that they will pay no attention to [their God's] lying words."

¹⁰Then the [Egyptian] taskmasters [in charge] of the people and their [Hebrew] foremen went out and said to the people, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I will not give you any straw.

¹¹Go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work [quota] will not be reduced in the least.'"

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

¹³And the taskmasters pressured them, saying, "Finish your work, [fulfill] your daily quotas, just as when there was straw [given to you]."

¹⁴And the Hebrew foremen, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, "Why have you not fulfilled your required quota of making bricks yesterday and today, as before?"

¹⁵Then the Hebrew foremen came to Pharaoh and cried, "Why do you deal like this with your servants?

¹⁶No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks!' And look, your servants are being beaten, but it is the fault of your own people."

¹⁷But Pharaoh said, "You are lazy, very lazy and idle! That is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.'

¹⁸Get out now and get to work; for no straw will be given to you, yet you are to deliver the same quota of bricks."

¹⁹The Hebrew foremen saw that they were in a bad situation because they were told, "You must not reduce [in the least] your daily quota of bricks."

²⁰When they left Pharaoh's presence, the foremen met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them.

²¹And the foremen said to them, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you, because you have made us odious (something hated) in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and you have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

²²Then Moses turned again to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have You brought harm and oppression to this people? Why did You ever send me? [I cannot understand Your purpose!]

²³Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed and oppressed this people, and You have done nothing at all to rescue Your people."

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will [not only] let them go, but under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."

²Then God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD.

³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (Israel) as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles].

⁴I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as strangers (temporary residents, foreigners).

⁵And I have also heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have [faithfully] remembered My covenant [with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob].

⁶Therefore, say to the children of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will free you from their bondage. I will redeem and rescue you with an outstretched (vigorous, powerful) arm and with great acts of judgment [against Egypt].

⁷Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who redeemed you and brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

⁸I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel); and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD [you have the promise of My changeless omnipotence and faithfulness].'"

⁹Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their impatience and despondency, and because of their forced labor.

¹⁰The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹"Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land."

¹²But Moses said to the LORD, "Look, [my own people] the Israelites have not listened to me; so how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled and inept in speech?"

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

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers' households. The sons of Reuben, Israel's (Jacob's) firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

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

¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their births: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and Levi lived a hundred and thirty-seven years.

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

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram (Moses' father), Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel; and Kohath lived a hundred and thirty-three years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

²⁰Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she gave birth to Aaron and Moses; and Amram lived a hundred and thirty-seven years.

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

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

²³Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she gave birth to Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the [extended] families of the Korahites.

²⁵Eleazar, Aaron's son, married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she gave birth to Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites by their families.

²⁶These are [the same] Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies."

²⁷They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt; these are [the same] Moses and Aaron.

²⁸Now it happened on the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹that He said, "I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything that I say to you."

³⁰But Moses said before the LORD, "Look, I am unskilled and inept in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me and pay attention to what I say?"

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now hear this: I make you as God to Pharaoh [to declare My will and purpose to him]; and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

²You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land.

³And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and multiply My signs and My wonders (miracles) in the land of Egypt.

⁴But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I shall lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts [like a defensive army, tribe by tribe], My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment (the plagues).

⁵The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them."

⁶And Moses and Aaron did so; just as the LORD commanded them, so they did.

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

⁸Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Work a miracle [to prove your authority],' then you say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may become a serpent.'"

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

¹¹Then Pharaoh called for the wise men [skilled in magic and omens] and the sorcerers [skilled in witchcraft], and they also, these magicians (soothsayer-priests) of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts and enchantments.

¹²For every man threw down his staff and they turned into serpents; but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

¹³Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them, just 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 as he is going out to the water, and wait for him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

¹⁶You shall say to him, 'The LORD, 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 behold, you have not listened until now."

¹⁷Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know and recognize and acknowledge that I am the LORD: look, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile."'"

¹⁹Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in containers both of wood and of stone.'"

²⁰So Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded; Aaron lifted up the staff and struck the waters in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.

²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river became foul smelling, and the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts and enchantments; so Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

²³Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this [divine sign] to heart.

²⁴So all the Egyptians dug near the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.

²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.