Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.
You must speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother must speak to Pharaoh that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.
But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
But Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
Moses and Aaron did so; as Yahweh commanded them, so they did.
Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83 years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Perform a miracle!’ then you will tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it becomes a serpent.’”
Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did so as Yahweh had commanded. And Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing by their secret arts.
For they each cast down their staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had spoken.
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood
Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
Go to Pharaoh in the morning, behold, he goes out to the water. And you are to stand by the river’s bank to meet him, and the staff that was turned to a serpent you are to take in your hand.
You will tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness, and behold, until now you haven’t listened.”
This is what Yahweh says: “By this you will know that I am Yahweh! Behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike on the waters that are in the river, and they will be turned to blood.
The fish that are in the river will die, and the river will become foul, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.”’”
Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, so that they will become blood, and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
Moses and Aaron did so as Yahweh commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck 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.
The fish that were in the river died, and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. And the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had spoken.
Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart.
All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the river.
Seven days were fulfilled after Yahweh had struck the river.