Israel’s Deliverance Assured

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”^(A)

² God also spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty,^[a] but by my name ‘The Lord’^[b] I did not make myself known to them.^{(B) 4} I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens.^{(C) 5} I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant.^{(D) 6} Say therefore to the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.^{(E) 7} I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.^{(F) 8} I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”^{(G) 9} Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.

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.^{(A) 15} Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.^{(B) 16} Say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened.^{(C) 17} Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord.” See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.^{(D) 18} The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.’ ”^{(E) 19} The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water—so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.”^(F)

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile; all the water in the river was turned into blood,^{(G) 21} and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.^{(H) 22} But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.^{(I) 23} Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.

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

The Third Plague: Gnats

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷ And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.^{(A) 18} The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals.^{(B) 19} And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.^(C)