Exodus 7:1-13

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

7 The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.^{(A) 2} You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.^{(B) 3} But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.^{(C) 4} When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.^{(D) 5} The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”^{(E) 6} Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.^{(F) 7} Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.^(G)

Aaron’s Miraculous Rod

⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’ ”^{(H) 10} So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.^{(I) 11} Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts.^{(J) 12} Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes, but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs. ¹³ However, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.^(K)