6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will use my great power against him, and he will let my people go. He will be so ready for them to leave that he will force them to go.” ²Then God said to Moses, ³“I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They called me El Shaddai (God All- Powerful). They did not know my name, YAHWEH (Lord). ⁴I made an agreement with them. I promised to give them the land of Canaan. They lived in that land, but it was not their own land. ⁵Now, I know about the troubles of the people of Israel. I know that they are the slaves of Egypt. And I remember my agreement. ⁶So tell the people of Israel that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord. I will save you. I will make you free. You will not be slaves of the Egyptians. I will use my great power and bring terrible punishment to the Egyptians. Then I will save you. ⁷You will be my people and I will be your God. I am the Lord your God, and you will know that I made you free from Egypt. ⁸I made a great promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised to give them a special land. So I will lead you to that land. I will give you that land. It will be yours. I am the Lord.’” ⁹So Moses told this to the people of Israel. But the people would not listen to him. They were working so hard that they were not patient with Moses. ¹⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Go tell Pharaoh that he must let the people of Israel leave his land.” ¹²But Moses answered, “The people of Israel refuse to listen to me! So surely Pharaoh will also refuse to listen. I am a very bad speaker!*” ¹³But the Lord talked with Moses and Aaron. God commanded them to go and talk to the people of Israel. He also commanded them to go and talk to Pharaoh. God commanded them to lead the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Some of the Families of Israel

¹⁴Here are the names of the leaders of the families of Israel: Israel’s first son, Reuben, had four sons. They were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁵Simeon’s sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul. (Shaul was the son from a Canaanite woman). ¹⁶Levi lived 137 years. Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁷Gershon had two sons, Libni and Shimei. ¹⁸Kohath lived 133 years. Kohath’s sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ¹⁹Merari’s sons were Mahli and Mushi. All these families were from Israel’s son Levi. ²⁰Amram lived 137 years. Amram married his father’s sister, Jochebed. Amram and Jochebed gave birth to Aaron and Moses. ²¹Izhar’s sons were Korah, Nepheg, and Zicri. ²²Uzziel’s sons were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. ²³Aaron married Elisheba. (Elisheba was the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of Nahshon.) Aaron and Elisheba gave birth to Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴The sons of Korah, {the ancestors of} the Korahites, were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. ²⁵Aaron’s son, Eleazar, married a daughter of Putiel. And she gave birth to Phinehas. All these people were from Israel’s son, Levi. ²⁶Aaron and Moses were from this family group. And they are the men that God spoke to and said, “Lead my people out of Israel in groups.*” ²⁷Aaron and Moses are the men that talked to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. They told Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave Egypt.

God Repeats His Call to Moses

²⁸In the land of Egypt God spoke to Moses. ²⁹He said, “I am the Lord. Tell the king of Egypt everything that I tell you.” ³⁰But Moses answered, “I am a very bad speaker. The king will not listen to me.”

I am a very bad speaker Or, “I sound like a foreigner.” Literally, “I have uncircumcised lips.” groups Or, “divisions.” This is a military term that shows Israel was organized like an army.

7 The Lord said to Moses, “I will be with you. You will be like a great king* to Pharaoh. And Aaron will be your official speaker.* ²Tell Aaron everything that I command you. Then he will tell the king the things I say. And Pharaoh will let the people of Israel leave this country. ³But I will make Pharaoh stubborn. {He will not obey the things you tell him.} Then I will do many miracles in Egypt to prove who I am. But he will still refuse to listen. ⁴So then I will punish Egypt very much. And I will lead my people out of that land. ⁵Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord. I will be against them, and they will know that I am the Lord. Then I will lead my people out of their country.” ⁶Moses and Aaron obeyed these things the Lord told them. ⁷Moses was 80 years old at the time, and Aaron was 83.

Moses’ Walking Stick Becomes a Snake

⁸The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹“Pharaoh will ask you to prove your power. He will ask you to do a miracle. Tell Aaron to throw his walking stick on the ground. While Pharaoh is watching, the stick will become a snake.” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and obeyed the Lord. Aaron threw his walking stick down. While Pharaoh and his officers watched, the stick became a snake. ¹¹So the king called for his wise men and magicians. These men used their tricks and they were able to do the same thing as Aaron. ¹²They threw their walking sticks on the ground, and their sticks became snakes. But then Aaron’s walking stick ate theirs. ¹³Pharaoh still refused to let the people go. This happened just like the Lord said it would. The king refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.

The Water Becomes Blood

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh is being stubborn. Pharaoh refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵In the morning, Pharaoh will go out to the river. Go to him by the edge of the Nile River. Take the walking stick that became a snake. ¹⁶Tell him this: ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrew people, sent me to you. The Lord told me to tell you to let his people go worship him in the desert. Until now you have not listened to the Lord. ¹⁷So the Lord says that he will do something to show you that he is the Lord. I will hit the water of the Nile River with this walking stick in my hand, and the river will change into blood. ¹⁸The fish in the river will die, and the river will begin to stink. Then the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the river.’” ¹⁹The Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron to hold the walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals, lakes and every place where they store water. When he does this, all the water will change into blood. All of the water, even the water stored in wood and stone jars, will change into blood.” ²⁰So Moses and Aaron did what the Lord commanded. Aaron raised the walking stick and hit the water in the Nile River. He did this in front of Pharaoh and his officials. So all the water in the river changed into blood. ²¹The fish in the river died, and the river began to stink. So the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. The blood was everywhere in Egypt. ²²The magicians used their tricks and did the same thing. So Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just like the Lord said. ²³Pharaoh ignored what Moses and Aaron had done. Pharaoh just turned and went into his house. ²⁴The Egyptians could not drink the water from the river. So they dug wells around the river for water to drink.

The Frogs

²⁵Seven days passed after the Lord changed the Nile River.

a great king Or, “God.” official speaker Or, “prophet.”