Exodus 7:1-14

English Standard Version

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like ^(A)God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your ^(B)prophet. ²^(C)You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. ³But ^(D)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I ^(E)multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵The Egyptians ^(F)shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” ⁶Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷Now Moses was ^(G)eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹“When Pharaoh says to you, ^(H)‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the ^(I)magicians of Egypt, also ^(J)did the same by their secret arts. ¹²For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³Still ^(K)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(L)as the Lord had said.