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Yahweh answered, “See, I am putting you in front of the king {like} a god, and your brother Aaron will {speak for you like} a prophet. 2 You must tell everything I instruct you to your {older} brother Aaron, and he will tell it all to the king. He must tell the king to let the Israelites leave his land. 3 But I will make the king stubborn. Because of this, even though I will do many kinds of miracles here in Egypt, 4 the king will not obey you. Then I will punish the Egyptians very severely and will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt as an army. 5 Once I have proven how powerful I am to the Egyptians by rescuing the Israelites from being their slaves, they will know that I am Yahweh.”6 Moses and Aaron did everything that Yahweh told them to do. 7 When {God sent} them to talk to the king of Egypt, Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 years old.
8 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “If the king says to you, ‘Show me that God sent you by performing a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Throw your staff down in front of the king in order that it may become a snake.’”
10 So Aaron and Moses went to the king and did what Yahweh told them to do. Aaron threw his staff down in front of the king and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Then the king called his wise men and men who did magic. They did the same thing, using their magic. 12 They all threw down their staffs, and the staffs became snakes. Then Aaron’s snake ate their snakes! 13 But, just as Yahweh had said, the king continued to be stubborn and would not obey what Aaron and Moses said.
14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “The king is very stubborn. He refuses to allow my people to go. 15 So go meet him as he is going down to the Nile River in the morning. Wait for him on the riverbank. Take with you the staff that became a snake. 16 Say to him, ‘The God {named} Yahweh, the one we Hebrews worship, sent me to you to tell you to let his people go in order that they may worship him in the desert. But you still have not obeyed. 17 So Yahweh says this: “This is the way you will know that I am Yahweh. Look out! I am going to hit the water that is in the Nile River with the staff that is in my hand. {When I do that,} the water will become blood. 18 Then the fish in the Nile River will die, and the water in the river will smell bad. The Egyptians will wear themselves out trying to find water to drink from the river.”’”
19 Yahweh continued, “Then tell Aaron, ‘Hold your staff out {as though you were holding it} over all the water in Egypt—over the rivers, the canals, the ponds, and over all the stored water, in order that all of it may become blood.’ {When Aaron does that,} there will be blood throughout Egypt, even in wooden and stone jars.”
20 So Aaron and Moses did what Yahweh told them to do. As the king and his officials were watching, Aaron lifted up his staff and then struck the water in the Nile River with it. All the water in the river turned to blood. 21 Then all the fish in the river died. The water smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink the water from the river. All the water in Egypt was blood. 22 But the Egyptian men who did magic did the same thing using their magic. So, just as Yahweh had said, the king continued to be stubborn and would not obey what Aaron and Moses said. 23 Then the king turned and went back to his palace, and he did not think any more about it. 24 All the Egyptians dug into the ground near the Nile River to get water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
25 One week passed after Yahweh struck the Nile River.