Exodus 7:14-16

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

¹⁴^[a]Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; wait for him by the river’s brink, and take in your hand the rod which was turned into a serpent. ¹⁶And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness; and behold, you have not yet obeyed.”

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Footnotes

7.14 Here begins the story of the ten plagues. Again, the narrative is composite and originally different traditions knew of different numbers of plagues. All, however, lead up to the climax of the death of the first-born. Some of the plagues correspond to natural phenomena that are known to occur, or to have occurred in the past, in Egypt.

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.