| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh, and your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet. | 1So the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. |
| 2Tell Aaron everything I command you, and Aaron must command Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his country. | 2You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release the Israelites from his land. |
| 3But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. | 3But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and although I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt, |
| 4Even then Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. So I will bring down my fist on Egypt. Then I will rescue my forces—my people, the Israelites—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. | 4Pharaoh will not listen to you. I will reach into Egypt and bring out my regiments, my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. |
| 5When I raise my powerful hand and bring out the Israelites, the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” | 5Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I extend my hand over Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them. |
| 6So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. | 6And Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them. |
| 7Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three when they made their demands to Pharaoh. | 7Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. |
| 8Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, | 8The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, |
| 9“Pharaoh will demand, ‘Show me a miracle.’ When he does this, say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent. ’” | 9"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Do a miracle,' and you say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' it will become a snake." |
| 10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the LORD had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent! | 10When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the LORD had commanded them--Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. |
| 11Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. | 11Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing. |
| 12They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. | 12Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. |
| 13Pharaoh’s heart, however, remained hard. He still refused to listen, just as the LORD had predicted. A Plague of Blood | 13Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had predicted. |
| 14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, and he still refuses to let the people go. | 14The LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard; he refuses to release the people. |
| 15So go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes down to the river. Stand on the bank of the Nile and meet him there. Be sure to take along the staff that turned into a snake. | 15Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water. Position yourself to meet him by the edge of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. |
| 16Then announce to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, “Let my people go, so they can worship me in the wilderness.” Until now, you have refused to listen to him. | 16Tell him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, "Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!" But until now you have not listened. |
| 17So this is what the LORD says: “I will show you that I am the LORD.” Look! I will strike the water of the Nile with this staff in my hand, and the river will turn to blood. | 17Thus says the LORD: "By this you will know that I am the LORD: I am going to strike the water of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. |
| 18The fish in it will die, and the river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink any water from the Nile.’” | 18Fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile."'" |
| 19Then the LORD said to Moses: “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and raise your hand over the waters of Egypt—all its rivers, canals, ponds, and all the reservoirs. Turn all the water to blood. Everywhere in Egypt the water will turn to blood, even the water stored in wooden bowls and stone pots.’” | 19Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt's waters--over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs--so that it becomes blood.' There will be blood everywhere in the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers." |
| 20So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. As Pharaoh and all of his officials watched, Aaron raised his staff and struck the water of the Nile. Suddenly, the whole river turned to blood! | 20Moses and Aaron did so, just as the LORD had commanded. Moses raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. |
| 21The fish in the river died, and the water became so foul that the Egyptians couldn’t drink it. There was blood everywhere throughout the land of Egypt. | 21When the fish that were in the Nile died, the Nile began to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood everywhere in the land of Egypt! |
| 22But again the magicians of Egypt used their magic, and they, too, turned water into blood. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had predicted. | 22But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and so Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron--just as the LORD had predicted. |
| 23Pharaoh returned to his palace and put the whole thing out of his mind. | 23And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this. |
| 24Then all the Egyptians dug along the riverbank to find drinking water, for they couldn’t drink the water from the Nile. | 24All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile. |
| 25Seven days passed from the time the LORD struck the Nile. | 25Seven full days passed after the LORD struck the Nile. |
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