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Exodus 7

    ²You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.

    ³And I will make Pharaoh's heart stubborn and hard, and multiply My signs, My wonders, and miracles in the land of Egypt.

    ⁴But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt and bring forth My hosts, My people the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

    ⁵The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.

    ⁶And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded them.

    ⁷Now Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

    ⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

    ⁹When Pharaoh says to you, Prove [your authority] by a miracle, then tell Aaron, Throw your rod down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.

    ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

    ¹¹Then Pharaoh called for the wise men [skilled in magic and divination] and the sorcerers (wizards and jugglers). And they also, these magicians of Egypt, did similar things with their enchantments and secret arts.

    ¹²For they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

    ¹³But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and stubborn and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

    ¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hard and stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.

    ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning; he will be going out to the water; wait for him by the river's brink; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

    ¹⁶And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and behold, heretofore you have not listened.

    ¹⁷Thus says the Lord, In this you shall know, recognize, and understand that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod in my hand the waters in the [Nile] River, and they shall be turned to blood.

    ¹⁸The fish in the river shall die, the river shall become foul smelling, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink from it.

    ¹⁹And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, rivers, pools, and ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in containers both of wood and of stone.

    ²⁰Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded; [Aaron] lifted up the rod and smote the waters in the river in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the waters in the river were turned to blood.

    ²¹And the fish in the river died; and the river became foul smelling, and the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

    ²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their enchantments and secret arts; and Pharaoh's heart was made hard and obstinate, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

    ²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house; neither did he take even this to heart.

    ²⁴And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the [Nile].

    ²⁵Seven days passed after the Lord had smitten the river.

Exodus 8

    ²And if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your entire land with frogs;

    ³And the river shall swarm with frogs which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedchamber and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and upon your people, and into your ovens, your kneading bowls, and your dough.

    ⁴And the frogs shall come up on you and on your people and all your servants.

    ⁵And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, the streams and canals, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.

    ⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land.

    ⁷But the magicians did the same thing with their enchantments and secret arts, and brought up [more] frogs upon the land of Egypt.

    ⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the Lord, that He may take away the frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord.

    ⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, Glory over me in this: dictate when I shall pray [to the Lord] for you, your servants, and your people, that the frogs may be destroyed from you and your houses and remain only in the river.

    ¹⁰And [Pharaoh] said, Tomorrow. [Moses] said, Let it be as you say, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

    ¹¹And the frogs shall depart from you and your houses and from your servants and your people; they shall remain in the river only.

    ¹²So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord [as he had agreed with Pharaoh] concerning the frogs which He had brought against him.

    ¹³And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards and villages, and out of the fields.

    ¹⁴[The people] gathered them together in heaps, and the land was loathsome and stank.

    ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was temporary relief, he made his heart stubborn and hard and would not listen or heed them, just as the Lord had said.

    ¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the ground, that it may become biting gnats or mosquitoes throughout all the land of Egypt.

    ¹⁷And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and there came biting gnats or mosquitoes on man and beast; all the dust of the land became biting gnats or mosquitoes throughout all the land of Egypt.

    ¹⁸The magicians tried by their enchantments and secret arts to bring forth gnats or mosquitoes, but they could not; and there were gnats or mosquitoes on man and beast.

    ¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God! But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and strong and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

    ²⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes forth to the water; and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

    ²¹Else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms [of bloodsucking gadflies] upon you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms [of bloodsucking gadflies], and also the ground on which they stand.

    ²²But on that day I will sever and set apart the land of Goshen in which My people dwell, that no swarms [of gadflies] shall be there, so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

    ²³And I will put a division and a sign of deliverance between My people and your people. By tomorrow shall this sign be in evidence.

    ²⁴And the Lord did so; and there came heavy and oppressive swarms [of bloodsucking gadflies] into the house of Pharaoh and his servants' houses; and in all of Egypt the land was corrupted and ruined by reason of the great invasion [of gadflies].

    ²⁵And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Go, sacrifice to your God [here] in the land [of Egypt].

    ²⁶And Moses said, It is not suitable or right to do that; for the animals the Egyptians hold sacred and will not permit to be slain are those which we are accustomed to sacrifice to the Lord our God; if we did this before the eyes of the Egyptians, would they not stone us?

    ²⁷We will go a three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He will command us.

    ²⁸So Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Entreat [your God] for me.

    ²⁹Moses said, I go out from you, and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms [of bloodsucking gadflies] may depart from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people tomorrow; only let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

    ³⁰So Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord.

    ³¹And the Lord did as Moses had spoken: He removed the swarms [of attacking gadflies] from Pharaoh, from his servants, and his people; there remained not one.

    ³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart and made it stubborn this time also, nor would he let the people go.

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Matthew 15

    ²Why do Your disciples transgress and violate the rules handed down by the elders of the past? For they do not practice [ceremonially] washing their hands before they eat.

    ³He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)?

    ⁴For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely come to his end by death.^(A)

    ⁵But you say, If anyone tells his father or mother, What you would have gained from me [that is, the money and whatever I have that might be used for helping you] is already dedicated as a gift to God, then he is exempt and no longer under obligation to honor and help his father or his mother.

    ⁶So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].

    ⁷You pretenders (hypocrites)! Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said:

    ⁸These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.

    ⁹Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.^(B)

    ¹⁰And Jesus called the people to Him and said to them, Listen and grasp and comprehend this:

    ¹¹It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

    ¹²Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees were displeased and offended and indignant when they heard this saying?

    ¹³He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots.^(C)

    ¹⁴Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch.

    ¹⁵But Peter said to Him, Explain this ^[a]proverb (this ^[b]maxim) to us.

    ¹⁶And He said, Are you also even yet dull and ignorant [without understanding and ^[c]unable to put things together]?

    ¹⁷Do you not see and understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the ^[d]abdomen and so passes on into the place where discharges are deposited?

    ¹⁸But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

    ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech.

    ²⁰These are what make a man unclean and defile [him]; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile [him].