Old/New Testament
7 The Lord said to Moses, “I have made you like God to the king of Egypt. And your brother Aaron will be like a prophet for you. 2 Tell Aaron your brother everything that I command you. Then let him tell the king of Egypt to let the Israelites leave his country. 3 But I will make the king stubborn. Then I will do many miracles in Egypt. 4 But he will still refuse to listen. So then I will punish Egypt terribly. And I will lead my divisions, my people the Israelites, out of that land. 5 I will punish Egypt with my power. And I will bring the Israelites out of that land. Then they will know I am the Lord.”
6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded them. 7 Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83, when they spoke to the king.
Aaron’s Walking Stick Becomes a Snake
8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “The king will ask you to do a miracle. When he does, Moses, you tell Aaron to throw his walking stick down in front of the king. It will become a snake.”
10 So Moses and Aaron went to the king as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw his walking stick down in front of the king and his officers. And it became a snake.
11 So the king called in his wise men and his magicians. With their tricks the Egyptian magicians were able to do the same thing. 12 They threw their walking sticks on the ground, and their sticks became snakes. But then Aaron’s stick swallowed theirs. 13 But the king was stubborn. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
The Water Becomes Blood
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The king is being stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. 15 In the morning the king will go out to the Nile River. Go meet him by the edge of the river. Take with you the walking stick that became a snake. 16 Tell him this: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you. He said, ‘Let my people go worship me in the desert.’ Until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: ‘This is how you will know that I am the Lord. I will strike the water of the Nile River with this stick in my hand. And the water will change into blood. 18 Then the fish in the Nile will die, and the river will begin to stink. And the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the Nile.’”
19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to stretch the walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals, ponds and pools in Egypt. The water will become blood everywhere in Egypt. There even will be blood in the wooden buckets and stone jars.”
20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron raised his walking stick and struck the water in the Nile River. He did this in front of the king and his officers. So all the water in the Nile changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river began to stink. So the Egyptians could not drink water from it. Blood was everywhere in the land of Egypt.
22 Using their tricks, their magicians of Egypt did the same thing. So the king was stubborn and refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just as the Lord had said. 23 The king turned and went into his palace. He ignored what Moses and Aaron had done. 24 The Egyptians could not drink the water from the Nile. So all of them dug along the bank of the river. They were looking for water to drink.
The Frogs
25 Seven days passed after the Lord changed the Nile River.
8 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to worship me. 2 If you refuse, then I will punish Egypt with frogs. 3 The Nile River will be filled with frogs. They will come from the river and enter your palace. They will be in your bedroom and your bed. The frogs will enter the houses of your officers and your people. They will enter your ovens and your baking pans. 4 The frogs will jump up all over you, your people and your officers.’”
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to hold his walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals and ponds. Make frogs come up out of the water onto the land of Egypt.”
6 So Aaron held his hand over all the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up out of the water and covered the land of Egypt. 7 The magicians used their tricks to do the same thing. So even more frogs came up onto the land of Egypt.
8 So the king called for Moses and Aaron. He said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
9 Moses said to the king, “Please set the time that I should pray for you, your people and your officers. Then the frogs will leave you and your houses. They will remain only in the Nile.”
10 The king answered, “Tomorrow.”
Moses said, “What you want will happen. By this you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will leave you, your houses, your officers and your people. They will remain only in the Nile.”
12 Moses and Aaron left the king. Moses asked the Lord about the frogs he had sent to the king. 13 And the Lord did as Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the yards and in the fields. 14 The Egyptians put them in piles. The whole country began to stink. 15 When the king saw that they were free of the frogs, he became stubborn again. He did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
The Gnats
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to raise his walking stick and strike the dust on the ground. Then everywhere in Egypt the dust will change into gnats.” 17 They did this. Aaron raised the walking stick that was in his hand and struck the dust on the ground. Then everywhere in Egypt the dust changed into gnats. The gnats got on the people and animals. 18 Using their tricks, the magicians tried to do the same thing. But they could not make the dust change into gnats. The gnats remained on the people and animals. 19 So the magicians told the king that the power of God had done this. But the king was stubborn and refused to listen to them. This happened just as the Lord had said.
The Flies
20 The Lord told Moses, “Get up early in the morning. Meet the king of Egypt as he goes out to the river. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go so they can worship me. 21 If you don’t let them go, I will send swarms of flies. I will send them into your houses. The flies will be on you, your officers and your people. The houses of Egypt will be full of flies. And they will be all over the ground, too. 22 But I will not treat the people of Israel the same as the Egyptian people. There will not be any flies in the land of Goshen, where my people live. By this you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will treat my people differently from your people. This miracle will happen tomorrow.’”
24 So the Lord did as he had said. Great swarms of flies came into the king’s palace and his officers’ houses. All over Egypt flies were ruining the land. 25 The king called for Moses and Aaron. He told them, “Offer sacrifices to your God here in this country.”
26 But Moses said, “It wouldn’t be right to do that. The Egyptians hate the sacrifices we offer to the Lord our God. They will see us offer sacrifices they hate. Then they will throw stones at us and kill us. 27 Let us make a three-day journey into the desert. We must offer sacrifices to the Lord our God there. This is what the Lord told us to do.”
28 The king said, “I will let you go. Then you may offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the desert. But you must not go very far away. Now go and pray for me.”
29 Moses said, “I will leave and pray to the Lord. He will take the flies away from you, your officers and your people tomorrow. But do not try to trick us again. Do not stop the people from going to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30 So Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord. 31 And the Lord did as Moses asked. He removed the flies from the king, his officers and his people. Not one fly was left. 32 But the king became stubborn again and did not let the people go.
Obey God’s Law Not Men’s
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They asked him, 2 “Why do your followers not obey the rules given to us by the great people who lived before us? Your followers don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus answered, “And why do you refuse to obey God’s command so that you can follow those rules you have? 4 God said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’[a] And God also said, ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ 6 You teach that person not to honor his father. You teach that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow the rules you have. 7 You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you:
8 ‘These people show honor to me with words.
But their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing
but human rules they have memorized.’” Isaiah 29:13
10 Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen and understand what I am saying. 11 It is not what a person puts into his mouth that makes him unclean. It is what comes out of his mouth that makes him unclean.”
12 Then his followers came to Jesus and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees are angry because of what you said?”
13 Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Stay away from the Pharisees. They are blind leaders.[c] And if a blind man leads another blind man, then both men will fall into a ditch.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the story to us.”
16 Jesus said, “You still have trouble understanding? 17 Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach. Then that food goes out of the body. 18 But what a person says with his mouth comes from the way he thinks. And these are the things that make him unclean. 19 Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, lying, and saying bad things against other people. 20 These things make a person unclean. But eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.