Exodus 7:1-14
Yahweh said to Moses,“ Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among them.”Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty- three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,“ When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying,‘ Perform a miracle!’ then you shall tell Aaron,‘ Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.’”Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.Yahweh said to Moses,“ Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.
