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Aaron Speaks for Moses

¹ The Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh. Your brother Aaron will be the one who speaks for you. ² You will speak all that I tell you. Your brother Aaron will tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his land. ³ But I will make Pharaoh's heart hard. So I will do many powerful works for the people to see in the land of Egypt. ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Egypt. By great acts that will punish the Egyptians, I will bring out My family groups, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt. ⁵ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I put My hand upon Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them." ⁶ So Moses and Aaron did what the Lord told them to do. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron's Special Walking Stick

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ "When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by doing a powerful work,' then you say to Aaron, ‘Take your special stick and throw it down in front of Pharaoh so that it will become a snake.'" ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They did just as the Lord had told them. Aaron threw his stick down in front of Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh called for his wise men and wonder-workers. They did the same thing using their secret ways. ¹² For each one threw down his stick and it became a snake. But Aaron's special stick ate their sticks. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh's heart was hard. He did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Water Becomes Blood

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is not changed. He will not let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he is going out to the water. Wait for him beside the Nile River. Take in your hand the special stick that became a snake. ¹⁶ And say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, so they may worship Me in the desert. But see, you have not yet listened." ¹⁷ So the Lord says, "By this you will know that I am the Lord. I will hit the water of the Nile with the special stick that is in my hand. And the water will be changed to blood. ¹⁸ The fish that are in the Nile will die. And the Nile will have a bad smell. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile."'" ¹⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, ‘Take your special stick and put your hand out over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their pools, and all their man-made lakes of water, so they will become blood. There will be blood through all the land of Egypt, even in pots of wood and pots of stone.'"

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did what the Lord had told them. Aaron raised the special stick and hit the water of the Nile in front of Pharaoh and his servants. And all the water in the Nile was turned into blood. ²¹ The

fish that were in the Nile died. And the Nile had a bad smell. So the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. The blood was through all the land of Egypt. ²² But the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same thing using their secret ways. And Pharaoh's heart was hard. He did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. ²³ Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, without even thinking what had happened. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink. For they could not drink the water of the Nile. ²⁵ Seven days passed after the Lord had hit the Nile.