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Exodus 7

   I am going to let your brother Aaron speak for you. He will tell your message to the king, just as a prophet speaks my message to the people. ²Tell Aaron everything I say to you, and he will order the king to let my people leave his country. ^3-4But I will make the king so stubborn that he won't listen to you. He won't listen even when I do many terrible things to him and his nation. Then I will bring a final punishment on Egypt, and the king will let Israel's families and tribes go. ⁵When this happens, the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.

    ⁶Moses and Aaron obeyed the LORD ⁷and spoke to the king. At the time, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three.

A Stick Turns into a Snake

    ¹⁰Moses and Aaron went to the king and his officials and did exactly as the LORD had commanded--Aaron threw the stick down, and it turned into a snake. ¹¹Then the king called in the wise men and the magicians, who used their secret powers to do the same thing-- ¹²they threw down sticks that turned into snakes. But Aaron's snake swallowed theirs. ¹³The king behaved just as the LORD had said and stubbornly refused to listen.

The Nile River Turns into Blood

   The Egyptian king stubbornly refuses to change his mind and let the people go. ¹⁵Tomorrow morning take the stick that turned into a snake, then wait beside the Nile River for the king. ¹⁶Tell him, " The LORD God of the Hebrews sent me to order you to release his people, so they can worship him in the desert. But until now, you have paid no attention.

    ¹⁷" The LORD is going to do something to show you that he really is the LORD. I will strike the Nile with this stick, and the water will turn into blood. ¹⁸The fish will die, the river will stink, and none of you Egyptians will be able to drink the water."

    ¹⁹Moses, then command Aaron to hold his stick over the water. And when he does, every drop of water in Egypt will turn into blood, including rivers, canals, ponds, and even the water in buckets and jars.

    ²⁰Moses and Aaron obeyed the LORD. Aaron held out his stick, then struck the Nile, as the king and his officials watched. The river turned into blood, ²¹the fish died, and the water smelled so bad that none of the Egyptians could drink it. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

    ²²But the Egyptian magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing. The king did just as the LORD had said--he stubbornly refused to listen. ²³Then he went back to his palace and never gave it a second thought. ²⁴The Egyptians had to dig holes along the banks of the Nile for drinking water, because water from the river was unfit to drink.

Frogs

Exodus 8

   Go to the palace and tell the king of Egypt that I order him to let my people go, so they can worship me. ²If he refuses, I will cover his entire country with frogs. ³Warn the king that the Nile will be full of frogs, and from there they will spread into the royal palace, including the king's bedroom and even his bed. Frogs will enter the homes of his officials and will find their way into ovens and into the bowls of bread dough. ⁴Frogs will be crawling on everyone--the king, his officials, and every citizen of Egypt.

    ⁵Moses, now command Aaron to hold his stick over the water. Then frogs will come from all rivers, canals, and ponds in Egypt, and they will cover the land.

    ⁶Aaron obeyed, and suddenly frogs were everywhere in Egypt. ⁷But the magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing.

    ⁸The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, " If you ask the LORD to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him."

    ⁹" All right," Moses answered. " You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river."

    ¹⁰" Do it tomorrow!" the king replied.

   " As you wish," Moses agreed. " Then everyone will discover that there is no god like the LORD, ¹¹and frogs will no longer be found anywhere, except in the Nile."

    ¹²After Moses and Aaron left the palace, Moses begged the LORD to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king. ¹³The LORD listened to Moses, and frogs died everywhere--in houses, yards, and fields. ¹⁴The dead frogs were placed in piles, and the whole country began to stink. ¹⁵But when the king saw that things were now better, he again did just as the LORD had said and stubbornly refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.

Gnats

Flies

   Early tomorrow morning, while the king is on his way to the river, go and say to him, " The LORD commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him. ²¹If you don't, he will send swarms of flies to attack you, your officials, and every citizen of your country. Houses will be full of flies, and the ground will crawl with them.

    ^22-23" The LORD's people in Goshen won't be bothered by flies, but your people in the rest of the country will be tormented by them. That's how you will know that the LORD is here in Egypt. This miracle will happen tomorrow."

    ²⁴The LORD kept his promise--the palace and the homes of the royal officials swarmed with flies, and the rest of the country was infested with them as well. ²⁵Then the king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, " Go sacrifice to your God, but stay here in Egypt."

    ²⁶" That's impossible!" Moses replied. " Any sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would disgust the Egyptians, and they would stone us to death. ²⁷No indeed! The LORD has ordered us to walk three days into the desert before offering sacrifices to him, and that's what we have to do."

    ²⁸Then the king told him, " I'll let you go into the desert to offer sacrifices, if you don't go very far. But in the meantime, pray for me."

    ²⁹" Your Majesty," Moses replied, " I'll pray for you as soon as I leave, and by tomorrow the flies will stop bothering you, your officials, and the citizens of your country. Only make sure that you're telling the truth this time and that you really intend to let our people offer sacrifices to the LORD."

    ³⁰After leaving the palace, Moses prayed, ³¹and the LORD answered his prayer. Not a fly was left to pester the king, his officials, or anyone else in Egypt. ³²But the king turned stubborn again and would not let the people go.

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Matthew 15

The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Mark 7.1-13)

   Why do you disobey God and follow your own teaching? ⁴Didn't God command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ⁵But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they have has been offered to God. ^{[b] 6}Is this any way to show respect to your parents? You ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. ⁷And you are nothing but show-offs! Isaiah the prophet was right when he wrote that God had said, ⁸"All of you praise me

   with your words,

   but you never really

   think about me.

    ⁹It is useless for you

   to worship me,

   when you teach rules

   made up by humans."

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Mark 7.14-23)

    ¹²Then his disciples came over to him and asked, "Do you know that you insulted the Pharisees by what you said?"

    ¹³Jesus answered, "Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Stay away from those Pharisees! They are like blind people leading other blind people, and all of them will fall into a ditch."

    ¹⁵Peter replied, "What did you mean when you talked about the things that make people unclean?"

    ¹⁶Jesus then said:

   Don't any of you know what I am talking about by now? ¹⁷Don't you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? ¹⁸But the words that come out of your mouth come from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God. ¹⁹Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. ²⁰These are what make you unclean. Eating without washing your hands will not make you unfit to worship God.