Old/New Testament
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Look, I have made you like God to Pharaoh. Your brother Aaron will speak on your behalf, like your prophet.[a] 2 You must say everything that I command you to say. Your brother Aaron must tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
3 But I will make Pharaoh's mind become hard. I will do many miracles in Egypt that show my power. 4 But Pharaoh will still refuse to listen to you. Then I will show my authority and I will punish the Egyptians. I will bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt like an army. 5 Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. I will show my great strength in Egypt and I will lead the Israelites out from there.’
Aaron's stick becomes a snake
6 Moses and Aaron obeyed all the commands of the Lord. 7 Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 ‘Pharaoh will say to you, “Show me a miracle.” Then say to Aaron, “Take your stick and throw it down in front of Pharaoh.” When Aaron does that, his stick will become a snake.’
10 So Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh. They did everything that the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw down his stick in front of Pharaoh and his officers. And the stick became a snake! 11 Then Pharaoh called for his wise men and his magicians to come to him. The Egyptian magicians did the same thing as Aaron. They used their secret magic to do it. 12 Each of them threw down his stick and it became a snake. But Aaron's stick ate all their sticks![b] 13 But Pharaoh's mind was hard and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. That was what the Lord had said would happen, and it did!
1: Moses changes water into blood
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh's mind is still hard. He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes to the river. Wait for him by the edge of the river. Then take in your hand the stick that became a snake. 16 Then say to Pharaoh, “The Lord, the God of the Israelites, has sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert.’ But until now, you have not listened to my message. 17 So this is what the Lord says: In this way, you will know that I am the Lord. Look! I will hit the water in the Nile river with the stick that is in my hand. Then the water will become blood. 18 The fish in the river will die, and the river will have a very bad smell. Then the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the Nile river.” ’
19 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your stick. Lift up your hand over the waters of Egypt. Lift your stick up over their rivers and their streams. Lift it up over their lakes and pools of water. Do that so that all the water becomes blood.” There will be blood in every part of Egypt. There will even be blood in their buckets and bowls.’
20 Moses and Aaron obeyed the command of the Lord. Aaron lifted up the stick in front of Pharaoh and his servants. He hit the water in the Nile river with the stick. Then all the water in the river became blood. 21 The fish in the river died. The river had such a bad smell that the Egyptians could not drink its water. There was blood in every part of Egypt.
22 But the Egyptian magicians used their magic and they did the same thing. So Pharaoh's mind continued to be hard. He still refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Lord had said that this would happen, and it did! 23 Pharaoh turned away and he went into his house. He did not worry about what had happened. 24 The Egyptians dug holes on the shore of the Nile river to find water to drink. They could not drink the water from the river itself.[c]
25 After the Lord had made the water in the river become blood, another seven days passed.
2: Frogs
8 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “This is the message from the Lord: Let my people go so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send thousands of frogs to bring trouble to your whole country. 3 The Nile river will be full of frogs. The frogs will go into your house. They will jump into your bed. They will go into the houses of your servants. They will go into the houses of your people. They will jump into your ovens and into your dishes. 4 The frogs will jump all over you. They will jump on your people and on all your servants.” ’
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your stick in your hand. Then raise your hand over the rivers, the streams and the pools. You will cause frogs to come up over the whole of Egypt.” ’
6 So Aaron lifted up his hand over the water of Egypt. Then the frogs came up and they covered the whole of Egypt.
7 But the magicians used their magic to do the same thing. They also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said, ‘Pray to the Lord. Ask him to remove the frogs from me and from my people. Then I will let your people go. They can offer sacrifices to the Lord.’
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘I will let you choose the time when I should pray to God. Then I will ask God to do this for you, for your servants and for your people. I will ask God to remove the frogs from you and from all your houses. The frogs will remain only in the Nile river.’
10 Pharaoh said, ‘Do it tomorrow.’ Moses answered, ‘I will do what you have asked. Then you will know that there is nobody like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will go away from you and your houses. They will go away from your servants and your people. They will remain only in the river.’
12 So Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh. Then Moses prayed to the Lord about the frogs that he had brought to punish Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, in the yards and in the fields all died. 14 The people swept the frogs together to make big heaps. There was a very bad smell over the whole country. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that the trouble had gone, his mind became hard again. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Lord had said that this would happen, and it did!
3: Gnats
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Lift up your stick and hit the dirt on the ground. It will become gnats in the whole land of Egypt.” ’
17 Moses and Aaron obeyed God. Aaron lifted up his hand and he hit the dirt with his stick. The dirt became gnats that flew onto all the people and onto all the animals. The dirt on the ground became gnats all over Egypt. 18 Then the Egyptian magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear. But they could not do it. The gnats were on all the people and on all the animals.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the work of God.’ But there was no change in Pharaoh's thoughts. He would not listen to them. The Lord had said that this would happen, and it did!
4: Flies
20 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning. Meet Pharaoh when he goes out to the river. Then say to him, “The Lord says: You must let my people go. Let them go to worship me. 21 If you do not let my people go, I will send thousands of flies on you. I will send them on your servants and on your people. I will send them into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The flies will cover all the ground where people live.
22 But it will be different in the region of Goshen, where my people live. I will not send flies there. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am doing my work here in this land. 23 I will make a difference between my people and your people. This miracle will happen tomorrow.” ’
24 That is what the Lord did. Great numbers of flies came into Pharaoh's house and into his servants' houses. The flies went all over Egypt and they destroyed the whole land.
25 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said to them, ‘Go! You can offer sacrifices to your God here, in Egypt.’ 26 But Moses said, ‘It would not be right to do that. The Egyptians do not like our sacrifices of animals. If we offer these sacrifices to the Lord our God, the Egyptians will be angry with us. They will throw stones at us to kill us. 27 So we must go on a journey for three days into the desert. We will offer sacrifices to the Lord our God there, as he has told us to do.’
28 So Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go. You may go into the desert and offer sacrifices to the Lord your God there. But do not go very far away. And pray for me too.’
29 Then Moses said, ‘I will leave you now, and I will pray to the Lord. Tomorrow, all the flies will go away from you, your officers and your people. But be careful! Do not deceive us, as you did before. You must really let the people go away to offer sacrifices to the Lord.’
30 So Moses left Pharaoh and he prayed to the Lord. 31 The Lord did what Moses asked him. All the flies left Pharaoh, his officers and his people. Not one fly remained! 32 But again, Pharaoh's mind became hard. He refused to let the people go.
Jesus tells the Pharisees and teachers of God's Law to obey God
15 After that, a group of Pharisees and teachers of God's Law came from Jerusalem to talk to Jesus. 2 They said, ‘Our leaders in past times taught us the right way to do everything. But your disciples do not obey the things that our leaders taught us. They do not wash their hands in the right way before they eat a meal. Why is that?’
3 Jesus replied, ‘God tells us the right way to obey him. But you refuse. Instead, you like to keep your own ideas. 4 God's Law says: “You must love your father and mother and obey them.” God also said, “A person should die if he says bad things against his father or against his mother.” 5 But you teach that a person may say to his father or to his mother, “I would have given gifts to help you. But I cannot do that because I have given them to God instead.” 6 Then, you let that person give nothing to his parents. He does not have to help them. This shows that you have not obeyed what God says is right. Instead, you have obeyed your own ideas. 7 You are hypocrites! What God's prophet Isaiah wrote about you long ago is true:
8 God says, “These people say good things about me,
but they do not really want to obey me.
9 They say that I am great.
But what they say has no purpose.
They teach their own rules, which I did not give to them.” ’
Jesus talks about the wrong things that people do
10 Jesus asked the crowd of people to come to him. He said to them, ‘Listen to me, so that you can understand my message. 11 It is not food that goes into people's mouths that makes them unclean. Instead, what comes out of people's mouths is important. It may show that what is inside them is unclean.’
12 Then Jesus' disciples went to him, and they said, ‘The Pharisees heard what you said. They did not agree with what you said. Do you know that?’
13 Jesus replied, ‘Those Pharisees are like plants that my Father God did not put in the ground. Like a farmer, he will completely pull all those plants out of the ground. 14 Do not listen to what the Pharisees say. They are blind, but they try to show people which way to go. A blind person cannot lead another blind person. If he does, then both of them will fall into a deep hole.’
15 Peter said to Jesus, ‘Explain to us what you mean.’
16 Jesus replied, ‘I am surprised that you still do not understand what I am saying. 17 You should understand that food first goes into people's mouths. Then it goes into their stomach, and then it passes out of their body. 18 The words that people speak come from their thoughts. It is what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean. 19 Evil thoughts come out from people's minds. As a result, they do wrong things. They murder people. They have sex with another man's wife. They have sex in other wrong ways. They rob people. They tell lies about other people. They insult people.
20 It is these bad things that make people unclean. But if people eat food when they have not washed their hands in the right way, that will not make them unclean.’
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