¹⁷ And take in your hand ^(A)this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, ^(A)“A staff.”

²⁷ But ^(A)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(B)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ^(A)‘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.’” ¹⁰ So 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. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the ^(B)magicians of Egypt, also ^(C)did the same by their secret arts. ¹² For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Still ^(D)Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, ^(E)as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. ^15 (F)Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand ^(G)the staff that turned into a ^(H)serpent. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The ^(I)Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, ^(J)that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, “By this ^(K)you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and ^(L)it shall turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ^(M)grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^(N)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he ^(O)lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the ^(P)water in the Nile turned into blood.