The First Plague: Waters Become Blood

¹⁴ So the Lord said to Moses: ^(A)“Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the ^(B)water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and ^(C)the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ^(D)‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, ^(E)that they may ^[a]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord: “By this ^(F)you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and ^(G)they shall be turned ^(H)to blood. ¹⁸ And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will ^(I)loathe^[b] to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and ^(J)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” ²⁰ And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he ^(K)lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the ^(L)waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹ The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians ^(M)could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

^22 (N)Then the magicians of Egypt did ^(O)so with their ^[c]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, ^(P)as the Lord had said. ²³ And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. ²⁴ So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.

The First Plague: Waters Become Blood

¹⁴ So the Lord said to Moses: ^(A)“Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the ^(B)water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and ^(C)the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ^(D)‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, ^(E)that they may ^[a]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord: “By this ^(F)you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and ^(G)they shall be turned ^(H)to blood. ¹⁸ And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will ^(I)loathe^[b] to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and ^(J)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” ²⁰ And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he ^(K)lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the ^(L)waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹ The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians ^(M)could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

^22 (N)Then the magicians of Egypt did ^(O)so with their ^[c]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, ^(P)as the Lord had said. ²³ And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. ²⁴ So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.

A Great Multitude Follows Jesus^(A)

⁷ But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, ^(B)and from Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how ^(C)many things He was doing, came to Him. ⁹ So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰ For He healed ^(D)many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to ^(E)touch Him. ^11 (F)And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, ^(G)“You are the Son of God.” ¹² But ^(H)He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

The Twelve Apostles^(I)

^13 (J)And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴ Then He appointed twelve, ^[a]that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have ^[b]power ^[c]to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ^16 [d]Simon, ^(K)to whom He gave the name Peter; ¹⁷ James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.