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Exodus 5-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 5

Pharaoh’s Hardness of Heart. 1 Afterwards, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may hold a feast[a] for me in the wilderness.” 2 Pharaoh answered, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord,[b] and I will not let Israel go.” 3 They replied, “The God of the Hebrews has come to meet us. Let us go a three days’ journey in the wilderness, that we may offer sacrifice to the Lord, our God,(A) so that he does not strike us with the plague or the sword.” 4 The king of Egypt answered them, “Why, Moses and Aaron, do you make the people neglect their work? Off to your labors!” 5 Pharaoh continued, “Look how they are already more numerous[c] than the people of the land, and yet you would give them rest from their labors!”

6 That very day Pharaoh gave the taskmasters of the people and their foremen[d] this order: 7 “You shall no longer supply the people with straw for their brickmaking[e] as before. Let them go and gather their own straw! 8 Yet you shall levy upon them the same quota of bricks as they made previously. Do not reduce it. They are lazy; that is why they are crying, ‘Let us go to offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Increase the work for the men, so that they attend to it and not to deceitful words.”

10 So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and told the people, “Thus says Pharaoh,[f] ‘I will not provide you with straw. 11 Go and get your own straw from wherever you can find it. But there will not be the slightest reduction in your work.’” 12 The people, then, scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw, 13 while the taskmasters kept driving them on, saying, “Finish your work, the same daily amount as when the straw was supplied to you.” 14 The Israelite foremen, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had placed over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why have you not completed your prescribed amount of bricks yesterday and today, as before?”

Complaint of the Foremen. 15 Then the Israelite foremen came and cried out to Pharaoh:[g] “Why do you treat your servants in this manner? 16 No straw is supplied to your servants, and still we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look how your servants are beaten! It is you who are at fault.” 17 He answered, “Lazy! You are lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now off to work! No straw will be supplied to you, but you must supply your quota of bricks.”

19 The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble, having been told, “Do not reduce your daily amount of bricks!” 20 So when they left Pharaoh they assailed Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them, 21 and said to them, “The Lord look upon you and judge! You have made us offensive to Pharaoh and his servants, putting a sword into their hands to kill us.”

Renewal of God’s Promise. 22 Then Moses again had recourse to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have you treated this people badly? And why did you send me? 23 From the time I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has treated this people badly, and you have done nothing to rescue your people.”

Chapter 6

1 The Lord answered Moses: Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. For by a strong hand, he will let them go; by a strong hand,[h] he will drive them from his land.

Confirmation of the Promise to the Ancestors. 2 [i]Then God spoke to Moses, and said to him: I am the Lord. 3 As God the Almighty[j] I appeared(B) to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but by my name, Lord, I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they were residing as aliens.(C) 5 Now that I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have reduced to slavery, I am mindful of my covenant.(D) 6 Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the Lord. I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and will deliver you from their slavery. I will redeem you by my outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God;(E) and you will know that I, the Lord, am your God who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians 8 and I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession—I, the Lord! 9 But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to him because of their dejection and hard slavery.

10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 11 Go, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the Israelites leave his land. 12 However, Moses protested to the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, how is it possible that Pharaoh will listen to me, poor speaker[k](F) that I am!” 13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and charged them to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

Genealogy of Moses and Aaron. 14 These are the heads of their ancestral houses.[l] The sons of Reuben,(G) the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. 15 The sons of Simeon:(H) Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi,(I) in their genealogical order: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.

17 The sons of Gershon,(J) by their clans: Libni and Shimei. 18 The sons of Kohath:(K) Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived one hundred and thirty-three years. 19 The sons of Merari:(L) Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi in their genealogical order.

20 Amram married his aunt[m] Jochebed,(M) who bore him Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. Amram lived one hundred and thirty-seven years. 21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri. 23 Aaron married Elisheba, Amminadab’s(N) daughter, the sister of Nahshon; she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, married one of Putiel’s daughters, who bore him Phinehas.[n] These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites by their clans. 26 These are the Aaron and the Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out from the land of Egypt, company by company.” 27 They are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt—the same Moses and Aaron.

28 When the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt 29 the Lord said to Moses: I am the Lord. Say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I tell you. 30 But Moses protested to the Lord, “Since I am a poor speaker, how is it possible that Pharaoh will listen to me?”

Chapter 7

1 The Lord answered Moses: See! I have made you a god to Pharaoh,(O) and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.[o] 2 You will speak all that I command you. In turn, your brother Aaron will tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. 3 Yet I will make Pharaoh so headstrong that, despite the many signs and wonders that I work in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Therefore I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring my armies, my people the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt. 5 All Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of their midst.

6 This, then, is what Moses and Aaron did. They did exactly as the Lord had commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

III. The Contest with Pharaoh

The Staff Turned into a Serpent. 8 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 9 When Pharaoh demands of you, “Produce a sign or wonder,” you will say to Aaron: “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will turn into a serpent.”(P) 10 Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a serpent. 11 Pharaoh, in turn, summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians(Q) of Egypt, did the same thing by their magic arts. 12 Each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. 13 Pharaoh, however, hardened his heart and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had foretold.

First Plague: Water Turned into Blood.[p] 14 Then the Lord said to Moses: Pharaoh is obstinate[q] in refusing to let the people go. 15 In the morning, just when he sets out for the water, go to Pharaoh and present yourself by the bank of the Nile, holding in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.[r] 16 Say to him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with the message: Let my people go to serve me in the wilderness. But as yet you have not listened. 17 Thus says the Lord: This is how you will know that I am the Lord. With the staff here in my hand, I will strike the water in the Nile and it will be changed into blood.(R) 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile itself will stink so that the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile.

19 The Lord then spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—its streams, its canals, its ponds, and all its supplies of water—that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the wooden pails and stone jars.

20 This, then, is what Moses and Aaron did, exactly as the Lord had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters in the Nile in full view of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water in the Nile was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile itself stank so that the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt. 22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same[s] by their magic arts. So Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned away and went into his house, with no concern even for this. 24 All the Egyptians had to dig round about the Nile for drinking water, since they could not drink any water from the Nile.

Second Plague: The Frogs. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile. 26 Then the Lord said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh and tell him:(S) Thus says the Lord: Let my people go to serve me. 27 If you refuse to let them go, then I will send a plague of frogs over all your territory. 28 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up and enter into your palace and into your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your servants, too, and among your people, even into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 29 The frogs will come up over you and your people and all your servants.

Chapter 8

1 The Lord then spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron: Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams, the canals, and the ponds, and make frogs overrun the land of Egypt. 2 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 3 But the magicians did the same by their magic arts and made frogs overrun the land of Egypt.

4 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to remove the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 5 Moses answered Pharaoh, “Please designate for me the time when I am to pray for you and your servants and your people, to get rid of the frogs from you and your houses. They will be left only in the Nile.” 6 “Tomorrow,” he said. Then Moses replied, “It will be as you have said, so that you may know that there is none like the Lord, our God. 7 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile.”

8 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh’s presence, Moses cried out to the Lord on account of the frogs that he had inflicted on Pharaoh; 9 and the Lord did as Moses had asked. The frogs died off in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 10 Heaps of them were piled up, and the land stank. 11 But when Pharaoh saw there was a respite, he became obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Third Plague: The Gnats. 12 Thereupon the Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and it will turn into gnats[t](T) throughout the land of Egypt. 13 They did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came upon human being and beast alike. All the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt. 14 Though the magicians did the same thing to produce gnats by their magic arts, they could not do so.(U) The gnats were on human being and beast alike, 15 and the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”[u] Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Fourth Plague: The Flies. 16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh when he sets out toward the water, and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Let my people go to serve me. 17 For if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies upon you and your servants and your people and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and the very ground on which they stand will be filled with swarms of flies. 18 But on that day I will make an exception of the land of Goshen, where my people are, and no swarms of flies will be there, so that you may know that I the Lord am in the midst of the land. 19 I will make a distinction[v] between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow. 20 This the Lord did. Thick swarms of flies entered the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants; throughout Egypt the land was devastated on account of the swarms of flies.(V)

21 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go sacrifice to your God within the land.” 22 But Moses replied, “It is not right to do so, for what we sacrifice to the Lord, our God, is abhorrent to the Egyptians.[w] If we sacrifice what is abhorrent to the Egyptians before their very eyes, will they not stone us? 23 We must go a three days’ journey in the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord, our God, as he commands us.” 24 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord, your God, in the wilderness, provided that you do not go too far away. Pray for me.” 25 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Pharaoh, however, must not act deceitfully again and refuse to let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 26 When Moses left Pharaoh, he prayed to the Lord; 27 and the Lord did as Moses had asked, removing the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not one remained. 28 But once more Pharaoh became obstinate and would not let the people go.

Footnotes

  1. 5:1 Hold a feast: the Hebrew verb used here, hagag (“to celebrate a feast or a festival”; see 12:14; 23:14), refers to a community celebration marked above all by a procession to the sanctuary. It is used especially of three major feasts: Unleavened Bread, Pentecost (in 23:16, “the Feast of Harvest,” but customarily “the Feast of Weeks” [Shavuot]), and Succoth/Sukkoth (in 34:16, “the Feast of Ingathering,” but more frequently “of Booths, or Tabernacles,” as in Dt 16:13, 16; 31:10; Lv 23:34; Zec 14:16; passim) and—along with the related noun hag—the Passover in 12:14. See 23:14–18; 34:18–25.
  2. 5:2 I do not know the Lord: whether or not he had heard of the Lord, the God of Israel, Pharaoh here refuses to acknowledge the Lord’s authority. See note on 1:8.
  3. 5:5 They are already more numerous: a recollection of Pharaoh’s earlier words to his subjects in 1:9.
  4. 5:6 The taskmasters of the people and their foremen: the former were higher officials and probably Egyptians; the latter were lower officials (perhaps recordkeepers or clerks), chosen from the Israelites themselves. Cf. v. 14.
  5. 5:7 Straw was mixed with clay to give sun-dried bricks greater cohesion and durability.
  6. 5:10 Thus says Pharaoh: the standard formula for prophetic oracles, but with Pharaoh rather than the Lord as the subject. This heightens the sense of personal conflict between Pharaoh, who acts as if he were God, and the Lord, whose claims are spurned by Pharaoh.
  7. 5:15 Cried out to Pharaoh: the Hebrew verb translated “cry out” and its related noun are normally used of appeals to God by Moses (8:8; 14:15; 15:25; 17:4), the people (3:7, 9; 14:10), or an oppressed individual (22:22, 26). Here, by implication, these minor Israelite officials appeal to Pharaoh as if he were their God. See v. 10.
  8. 6:1 By a strong hand: by God’s hand or Pharaoh’s hand? The Hebrew is ambiguous; although it may be an allusion to God’s hand of 3:19–20, both interpretations are possible.
  9. 6:2–7:7 According to the standard source criticism of the Pentateuch, 6:2–7:7 represents a Priestly version of the JE call narrative in 3:1–4:17. But in context the present account does more than simply repeat the earlier passage. See note below.
  10. 6:3 God the Almighty: in Hebrew, El Shaddai. This traditional translation does not have a firm philological basis. But by my name…I did not make myself known to them: although the text implies that the name Lord was unknown previously, in context the emphasis in the passage falls on the understanding of God that comes with knowledge of the name. In this way God responds to the worsening plight of the Israelites and Moses’ complaint in 5:23 that God has done nothing at all to rescue them.
  11. 6:12 Poor speaker: lit., “uncircumcised of lips”: a metaphor expressing the hindrance of good communication expressed as “slow of speech and tongue” (4:10). Also used as a metaphor for impeded “heart” (Lv 26:41; Dt 10:16).
  12. 6:14 The purpose of the genealogy here is to give the line from which Moses and Aaron sprang, with special emphasis placed on the line of Aaron. Reuben and Simeon are mentioned first because, as older brothers of Levi, their names occur before his in the genealogy.
  13. 6:20 His aunt: more exactly, “his father’s sister.” Later on such a marriage was forbidden. Cf. Lv 18:12. Hence, the Greek and Latin versions render here, “his cousin.”
  14. 6:25 Phinehas: according to Nm 25:13, Phinehas was given by God “the covenant of an everlasting priesthood” because of his zeal for God when the Israelites committed apostasy by worshiping the Baal of Peor in the plains of Moab (see Nm 25:1–18).
  15. 7:1 Prophet: Hebrew nabi, one who can legitimately speak for God and in God’s name to another or others. Just as God spoke to Moses, so Moses will speak to Aaron, who will be a “prophet” to Pharaoh. Cf. 4:16.
  16. 7:14–12:30 After a brief preface (vv. 8–13) drawn from the Priestly source, a narrative depicting the series of ten disasters that God brings upon Pharaoh because of his stubbornness ensues. Although most of these disasters, known traditionally as the “ten plagues of Egypt,” could be interpreted as naturally occurring phenomena, they are clearly represented by the biblical authors as extraordinary events indicative of God’s intervention on behalf of Israel and as occurring exactly according to Moses’ commands. See Ps 78:43–51 and 105:27–36 for poetic versions of these plagues, which also differ significantly from the account here.
  17. 7:14 Pharaoh is obstinate: lit., “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy” (kabed); thus not precisely the same Hebrew idiom as found in vv. 13 and 22, “stubborn,” lit., “Pharaoh’s heart was hard(ened)” (hazaq) (cf. the related idiom with Pharaoh as the object, e.g., 4:21).
  18. 7:15 The staff that turned into a snake: the allusion is to 4:2–4 rather than 7:9–12. The latter comes from the hand of the Priestly writer and features Aaron—with his staff—as the principal actor.
  19. 7:22 The Egyptian magicians did the same: this is an exaggeration, presumably influenced by the similar statement in v. 11; whereas the magicians could turn their staffs into snakes after Aaron had done so, after Aaron’s sign there should not have been any water in Egypt still unchanged to blood for the magicians “to do the same” with it (cf. v. 24).
  20. 8:12, 17 Gnats, flies: it is uncertain what species of troublesome insects are meant here in vv. 12–14 and then in vv. 17–27, the identification as “gnat” (vv. 12–14) and as “fly” (vv. 17–27) being based on the rendering of the Septuagint. Others suggest “lice” in vv. 12–14, while rabbinic literature renders Hebrew ‘arob in vv. 17–27 as a “mixture of wild animals.” In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the word occurs only in the context of the plagues (see also Ps 78:45 and 105:31).
  21. 8:15 The finger of God: previously the magicians had, for the most part, been able to replicate the signs and wonders Moses performed to manifest God’s power—turning their staffs into snakes (7:11–12), turning water into blood (7:22), and producing frogs to overrun the land of Egypt (8:3). But now for the first time they are unable to compete, and confess a power greater than their own is at work. Cf. Lk 11:20.
  22. 8:19 A distinction: while some uncertainty surrounds the Hebrew here rendered as “distinction,” it is clear that now the Israelites begin to be set apart from the Egyptians, a separation that reaches a climax in the death of the Egyptian firstborn (11:7).
  23. 8:22 Perhaps Moses is deceiving the Pharaoh much like the “God-fearing” midwives (1:16–20), although ancient historians writing about Egypt some time after the period in which the exodus is set do note Egyptian prohibitions on sacrificing cattle or slaughtering sacred animals. As such, the Egyptians might well have fiercely resented certain sacrificial practices of the Israelites. Certain animals were held sacred in Egypt, as the representations of various deities.
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Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.