O God, Do Not Keep Silence

A Song. A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.

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 (A)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 ^(B)the staff that turned into a ^(C)serpent. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The ^(D)Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, ^(E)that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, “By this ^(F)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 ^(G)it shall turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will ^(H)grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and ^(I)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 ^(J)lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the ^(K)water in the Nile turned into blood. ²¹ And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians ^(L)could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. ²² But ^(M)the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So ^(N)Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as ^(O)the Lord had said. ²³ Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

²⁵ Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

^22 (A)Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. ^23 (B)And all the people were amazed, and said, ^(C)“Can this be the Son of David?” ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ^(D)“It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” ^25 (E)Knowing their thoughts, ^(F)he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. ²⁶ And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, ^(G)by whom do ^(H)your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is ^(I)by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then ^(J)the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or ^(K)how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed ^(L)he may plunder his house. ^30 (M)Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ^31 (N)Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but ^(O)the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² And whoever speaks a word ^(P)against the Son of Man ^(Q)will be forgiven, but ^(R)whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in ^(S)this age or in the age to come.