Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The Lord said to Moses, "I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to speak all that I command you, and Aaron will speak to Pharaoh so he may let the Israelites go out of his land.

I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and my signs and wonders will multiply in Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand upon Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.

Moses and Aaron did exactly as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle,' then tell Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh; it will become a serpent.'"

Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh as the Lord had commanded them. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, whereupon it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and sorcerers, who were skilled in magical arts. They too performed similar feats with their rods, which turned into serpents.

However, Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, making him even more stubborn than before. He refused to let the Israelites go, despite his advisors performing miraculous signs alongside Aaron.

The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh has refused to listen to my message. Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he is by the water, and stand by the river's edge until he comes." Moses was to take the rod that had become a serpent in his hand. The Lord God of the Hebrews sent him with a message: "Let my people go so they may serve me in the wilderness."

However, Pharaoh continued to refuse, saying, "I will not let them go." The Lord said to Moses, "To prove that I am the Lord, I will strike the waters in the river with my staff. They will be turned to blood, and the fish will die. The water will become foul, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink from it."

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell Aaron to take his staff and stretch it out over the waters of Egypt – all their streams, rivers, ponds, and pools." Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded them. They lifted up the rod, and the water in the river turned to blood before Pharaoh and his servants.

The fish died, and the water became foul with blood. The Egyptians could not drink from it, and there was blood throughout all their land. The magicians of Egypt performed similar feats with their magical arts, but Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, just as the Lord had predicted. He refused to listen to Moses or the Israelites.

Pharaoh went back into his house without taking to heart this second plague. All the Egyptians dug around the river to find water to drink because they couldn't use its waters. Seven days passed after the Lord struck the river with his power.