Then the LORD said to Moses, “aNow hear this: I make you as God to Pharaoh to declare My will and purpose to him; and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.Ex 4:16 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother aAaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land.Ex 4:15 3 And aI will make Pharaoh’s heart hard, and bmultiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.Ex 4:21Ex 11:9; Acts 7:36 4 But aPharaoh will not listen to you, and I shall lay My hand on Egypt and bbring out My hosts like a defensive army, tribe by tribe, My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by cgreat acts of judgment .Ex 3:19, 20; 7:13, 16, 22; 8:15, 19; 9:12; 11:9Ex 12:51; 13:3, 9Ex 6:6 5 aThe Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I bstretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”Ex 7:17; 8:19, 22; 10:7; 14:4, 18, 25Ex 3:20 6 And Moses and Aaron did so; just aas the LORD commanded them, so they did.Gen 6:22; 7:5; Ex 7:2 7 Now Moses was aeighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.Deut 29:5; 31:2; 34:7; Acts 7:23, 30
8 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘aWork a miracle to prove your authority,’ then you say to Aaron, ‘bTake your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may become a serpent.’”Is 7:11; John 2:18; 6:30Ex 4:2, 17 10 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and did just as the LORD had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it abecame a serpent.Ex 4:3; 7:9 11 Then Pharaoh acalled for the wise men skilled in magic and omens and the sorcerers skilled in witchcraft, and they also, these bmagicians of Egypt, did the same with ctheir secret arts and enchantments.Dan 2:2; 4:6; 5:7Gen 41:8; Ex 7:22; Dan 2:2; 2 Tim 3:8Ex 7:22; 8:7, 18; 2 Tim 3:9; Rev 13:13, 14 12 For every 1man threw down his staff and they turned into serpents; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.Jannes and Jambres may have been among this group of Egyptian sorcerers. See 2 Tim 3:8. 13 Yet aPharaoh’s heart was hardened and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.Ex 4:21; 7:3, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 34, 35; 10:1, 20, 27
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning aas he is going out to the water, and wait for him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand bthe staff that was turned into a serpent.Ex 2:5; 8:20Ex 4:2, 3; 7:10 16 You shall asay to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “bLet My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.”Ex 3:13, 18; 4:22; 5:1Ex 4:23; 5:1, 3 17 Thus says the LORD, “aBy this you shall know and recognize and acknowledge that I am the LORD: look, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water in the Nile, and bit shall be turned to blood.Ex 5:2; 7:5; 10:2; Ps 9:16; Ezek 25:17Ex 4:9; 7:20; Rev 11:6; 16:4, 6 18 aThe fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will bnot be able to drink water from the Nile.”’”Ex 7:21Ex 7:24 19 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and astretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in containers both of wood and of stone.’”Ex 8:5, 6, 16; 9:22; 10:12, 21; 14:21, 26
20 So Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded; Aaron lifted up athe staff and struck the waters in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and ball the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.Ex 17:5Ps 78:44; 105:29 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river became foul smelling, and the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout 1all the land of Egypt.At least some of the ground water was spared, and the Egyptians were forced to dig for it (v 24). 22 aBut the magicians of Egypt did the 1same by their secret arts and enchantments; so Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.Perhaps the priests were able to change a small quantity of the blood back into water or vice-versa. That would explain why Pharaoh took the problem so lightly (v 23).Ex 7:11; 8:7 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this divine sign to heart. 24 So all the Egyptians dug near the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.