Exodus 7

The LORD said to Moses, "Look, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet, the one who speaks your words for you.

1And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

Note"I have made you like God to Pharaoh" is a comparison drawn from how prophecy worked: a god supplies the words, a prophet delivers them. In the Hebrew Bible a prophet is first of all a spokesman, someone who carries another's message, rather than someone who predicts the future. So Moses will supply the words and Aaron will speak them, the same relation Moses himself has to the LORD.

2You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his land.

2Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

3But I will make Pharaoh stubborn, and I will do many signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

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

NoteIn Hebrew the heart is the seat of thinking, willing and deciding, not of feeling as in modern English. To "harden" or "strengthen" a heart is to make a person unyielding or fixed in a decision. The plague narrative uses three different Hebrew verbs for this (make strong, make heavy, make hard) and sometimes God is the one who does it, sometimes Pharaoh himself, and sometimes the Hebrew simply says his heart was hard without naming who made it so.

4Pharaoh will not listen to you. So I will lay my hand on Egypt, and with great acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt.

4But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

Note"Lay my hand on" is a standard idiom for bringing force to bear, as "stretch out my hand" is in the next verse; no physical hand is meant. "My divisions" (King James "mine armies") translates a military word for organized ranks or companies, the Israelites are pictured leaving not as a crowd of refugees but as a mustered force marching out in order.

5And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I reach out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them."

5And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

6Moses and Aaron did exactly what the LORD commanded them.

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

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

7And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

8The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

8And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

9"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Show a miracle to prove yourselves,' then tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh,' and it will become a serpent."

9When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

NoteThe word translated "serpent" here is not the ordinary word for snake. It is the term used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for a large reptile or sea monster, a crocodile-like or dragon-like creature. Verse 15 uses the ordinary snake word when referring back to this same event, so the two terms are being used loosely for the same thing.

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

10And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11Then Pharaoh called for his wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their secret arts.

11Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

NoteEgyptian courts kept professional ritual specialists, often lector-priests, the men who read and performed the sacred texts. "Wise men," "sorcerers" and "magicians" are three overlapping terms for this class of official. The phrase rendered "secret arts" comes from a root meaning hidden or concealed, referring to their guarded professional techniques.

12Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

12For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

13Yet Pharaoh's heart stayed hard, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

13And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

14Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard. He refuses to let the people go.

14And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

15Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water. Stand on the bank of the river to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.

15Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

Note"The river" without further description means the Nile throughout Exodus; Egypt had only one river worth naming. Why Pharaoh went out to the water each morning is not stated: it may have been a routine inspection of the river's level, on which the whole country's harvest depended, or a ceremonial visit.

16Say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with this message: Let my people go, so they can worship me in the wilderness. But so far you have not listened.

16And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

Note"Hebrews" is the label outsiders use for this people in Exodus; Egyptians call them that, and Israelites use it when speaking to Egyptians. The verb translated "worship" is the ordinary Hebrew word for serving (the same word used of the forced labor they are doing for Pharaoh) and it covers sacrifice and religious service as well. The request is pointed: they will serve one master or the other. "Wilderness" means open, uncultivated grazing country, not necessarily sand desert.

17This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Watch: with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the river, and it will turn to blood.

17Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

NoteThe Hebrew shifts speakers mid-sentence here and the ambiguity is in the original: the LORD is quoted saying "the staff in my hand," though the staff is the one Moses and Aaron carry. Ancient and modern readers have taken it either as God speaking of the staff as his own instrument, or as the words Moses is to say in his own voice.

18The fish in the river will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will not be able to stand drinking its water.'"

18And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

19The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, their canals, their ponds, and all their pools of water, so they turn to blood.' There will be blood everywhere in Egypt, even in containers of wood and stone."

19And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

NoteThe four terms cover the whole Egyptian water system: the Nile's branches, the man-made irrigation canals that carried water to the fields, standing ponds, and any collected pool or reservoir. "Containers of wood and stone" means the household jars and basins in which drawn water was stored, the point being that even water already taken from the river is included.

20Moses and Aaron did just what the LORD commanded. In front of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron lifted up the staff and struck the water of the river, and all the water in the river turned to blood.

20And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

21The fish in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink its water. There was blood everywhere in the land of Egypt.

21And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

22But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart stayed hard, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

22And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.

23Pharaoh turned around and went into his house, and he did not take this to heart either.

23And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

Note"He did not take this to heart" is the same Hebrew word for heart used of Pharaoh's hardening, here in an ordinary idiom meaning he gave it no thought or attention. "Either" points back to the staff that became a serpent: this is the second sign he has brushed aside.

24All the Egyptians dug in the ground around the river to find water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.

24And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

NoteDigging beside the Nile taps water that has seeped through the sand and gravel of the bank, which filters it. This was ordinary Egyptian practice for getting cleaner drinking water, not an act of desperation invented for the occasion.

25Seven full days passed after the LORD struck the river.

25And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

NoteThe Hebrew says only that seven days were filled up after the LORD struck the river. It does not specify whether the plague itself lasted seven days or whether seven days simply passed before the next confrontation.