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¹And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘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, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

³Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will strike us with plague or with the sword.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you let the people neglect their work? Get back to your labors!”

⁵Again Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!”

⁶So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,

⁷“You are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as previously; have them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸But you shall impose on them the quota of bricks which they were making before; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, for that reason they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

⁹Let the labor be heavier on the men, and have them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”

¹⁰So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not going to give you any straw.

¹¹You go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; but none of your labor will be reduced.’ ”

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

¹³And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw.”

¹⁴Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not completed your required task of making bricks either yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants?

¹⁶There is no straw given to your servants, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are being beaten; but it is the fault of your own people.”

¹⁷But he said, “You are lazy, very lazy; for that reason you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’

¹⁸So go now and work; for you will be given no straw, but you must deliver the quota of bricks.”

¹⁹The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, since they were told, “You must not reduce your daily amount of bricks.”

²⁰When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them.

²¹And they said to them, “May the LORD look upon you and judge you, because you have made us repulsive in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”

²²Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?

²³Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

²God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD;

³and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.

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

⁵Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.

⁶Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.

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

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

⁹So Moses said this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.

¹⁰Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹“Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”

¹²But Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, as I am unskilled in speech?”

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

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

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

¹⁶And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and the length of Levi’s life was 137 years.

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

¹⁸And the sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath’s life was 133 years.

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

²⁰Now Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the length of Amram’s life was 137 years.

²¹And the sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

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

²⁴And the sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵Now Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their multitudes.”

²⁷They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.

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

²⁹that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the LORD; say to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

³⁰But Moses said before the LORD, “Behold, I am unskilled in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

²As for you, you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My armies, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.

⁵Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

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

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

⁸Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may turn into a serpent.’ ”

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

¹¹Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

¹²For each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

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

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning just as he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

¹⁶And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.”

¹⁷This is what the LORD says: “By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.

¹⁸Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend 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 will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’ ”

²⁰So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was 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.

²¹Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

²²But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

²³Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this.

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

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