² The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from it, ⁴ but the Lord told him, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This will take place,” He continued, “so they will believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”^(A)

⁶ In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, white as snow.^{[a](B) 7} Then He said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” He put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out,^[b] it had again become like the rest of his skin.^{(C) 8} “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. ⁹ And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”^(D)

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard: he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.^{(A) 16} Tell him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship^[a] Me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened. ¹⁷ This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. Watch. I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

¹⁹ So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand^(B) over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers, canals,^[b] ponds, and all their water reservoirs—and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.^{(C) 21} The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. ²³ Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t even take this to heart. ²⁴ All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river.