1 And the LORD {YHWH, Divine Commissioner} said to Moses, “Take notice: I have appointed you to stand as God {Elohim, Appointed Representative} before Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.”
2 You are to speak everything that I command you {atsavekha: direct instruction}, and Aaron your brother is to speak to Pharaoh, so that he will send the sons of Israel out from his land {meartso: domain of rule}.
3 But I {YHWH, Judge of Hearts} will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will increase my signs {ot: divine signals} and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I {ani: Sovereign Speaker} will extend my hand {yadi: display of power} over Egypt and bring out my hosts—my people, the sons of Israel—from the land of Egypt by powerful judgments.
5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Redeemer} when I stretch out my hand {yad: symbol of authority} against Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from their midst.
6 So Moses and Aaron carried out what the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Commander} commanded {tsivvah: official directive} them; that is what they did.
7 Moses was eighty years {shanah: time period} old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian ruler}.
8 Then the LORD {YHWH, Divine Speaker} spoke to Moses and to Aaron {Aharon: Priestly Leader}, saying,
9 When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, “Provide a sign {mopheth: miraculous wonder} for yourselves,” you shall say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent {tannin: monstrous creature}.”
10 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and carried out exactly what the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Commander} had commanded. Then Aaron cast down his staff {matteh: symbol of authority} before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh {par'o: Egyptian Monarch} summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians carried out corresponding acts through their secret arts {belahatehem: Hidden Techniques}.
12 Each man dropped his staff, and they became serpents {tanninim: Large Serpentine Creatures}; yet Aaron’s staff {Aharon: Priestly Representative} swallowed up their staffs.
13 And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Over Hearts} had spoken {diber: declared in advance}.
14 And the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart {leiv: inner resolve} is hard; he refuses to send the people away.”
15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning {babboker: break of day}; behold, he goes out to the water, and you shall stand to meet him on the bank of the Nile and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent {nephakh: demonstration of power}.
16 And you shall say to him, “The LORD God {YHWH Elohei, Covenant Deliverer} of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, ‘Send my people {ammi: kin group} away so that they may serve me in the wilderness.’ But behold, you have not listened until now.”
17 “Thus declares the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge}: ‘By this you will know that I {ani, Covenantal Witness} am the LORD. See, I will strike the waters of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and they will be turned into blood.’”
18 And the fish in the river will die, and the river will stink {baash: emit a foul odor}; and the Egyptians {mitsrayim: land of bondage} will grow weary of drinking water from the river.
19 And the LORD {YHWH, Miracle Initiator} said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, over its canals, over its ponds, and over all its pools of water—and they will become blood {dam: sign of judgment}. Blood will course through the entire land of Egypt, even into wood and stone vessels.’”
20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Commander} commanded. In front of Pharaoh and his servants, the staff {matteh: rod of authority} was lifted and used to strike the waters in the Nile, and all the waters in the Nile were turned to blood.
21 The fish that were in the river died, the river stank {vayivaash: foul stench}, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and there was blood {hadam: blood everywhere} throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 And the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart {lev: inner resolve} was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD {YHWH, Foretelling Judge} had spoken.
23 Then Pharaoh {parʿoh: Egyptian ruler} turned away and went into his house, and he did not set his heart {libo: inner resolve} on this either.
24 And all the Egyptians {mitsrayim: land of bondage} dug around the river {hayor: Nile} for water to drink, because they could not drink from the waters of the river.
25 And seven days were completed after the LORD {YHWH, Judge of Nations} had struck the Nile {ye’or: Egypt’s life-source}.