< Exodus 7 >

1 And YHWH says to Moses, “See, I have given you [as] a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is your prophet;
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Listen [carefully]. [Just like I enabled prophet to speak my messages], I will cause the king [to consider that] you are like a god, and that Aaron is like a prophet.
2 you speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron speaks to Pharaoh, and he has sent the sons of Israel out of his land.
You must tell everything I command you [to tell to your older] brother Aaron, and he will tell that to the king. He must tell the king to let the Israeli people leave his land.
3 And I harden the heart of Pharaoh, and have multiplied My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt,
But I will make the king stubborn [IDM]. As a result, even though I perform many kinds of (miracles/terrifying things) [DOU] [here] in Egypt,
4 and Pharaoh does not listen, and I have put My hand on Egypt, and have brought out My hosts, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments;
the king will not pay any attention to what you say. Then I will punish [MTY] the people of Egypt [MTY] very severely [MTY], and I will lead/bring the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
5 and the Egyptians have known that I [am] YHWH, in My stretching out My hand against Egypt; and I have brought out the sons of Israel from their midst.”
Then, when I show my great power [MTY] to the Egyptian people and bring the Israeli people out from among them, they will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].”
6 And Moses does—Aaron also—as YHWH commanded them; so have they done;
Aaron and Moses/I did what Yahweh told them/us to do. They/We [went and spoke to the king].
7 and Moses [is] a son of eighty years, and Aaron [is] a son of eighty-three years, in their speaking to Pharaoh.
At that time, Moses/I was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83 years old.
8 And YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
Yahweh said to Moses/me,
9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, Give a wonder for yourselves; then you have said to Aaron, Take your rod and cast [it] before Pharaoh—it becomes a dragon.”
“If the king says to you, ‘Prove [that God sent] you by performing a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Throw your stick down in front of the king, in order that it may become a snake.’”
10 And Moses goes in—Aaron also—to Pharaoh, and they do so as YHWH has commanded; and Aaron casts his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it becomes a dragon.
So Aaron and Moses/I went to the king and did what Yahweh had commanded [them/us to do]. Aaron threw his stick down in front of the king and his officials, and it became a snake.
11 And Pharaoh also calls for wise men and for sorcerers; and the enchanters of Egypt, they also, with their [enchanting] flames, do so,
Then the king summoned his sorcerers and men who performed magic. They did the same thing, using their magic.
12 and they each cast down his rod, and they become dragons, and the rod of Aaron swallows their rods;
They all threw down their sticks, and they became snakes. But Aaron’s stick, [which had become a snake], swallowed up all their sticks!
13 and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he has not listened to them, as YHWH has spoken.
But the king continued to be stubborn [IDM], just as Yahweh had predicted, and he would not pay attention to [what Aaron and Moses/I said].
14 And YHWH says to Moses, “The heart of Pharaoh has been hard, he has refused to send the people away;
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “The king is very stubborn [IDM]. He refuses to allow [my] people to go.
15 go to Pharaoh in the morning, behold, he is going out to the water, and you have stood to meet him by the edge of the River, and the rod which was turned to a serpent you take in your hand,
So [tomorrow] morning, go to him as he is going down to the [Nile] River [to bathe]. Wait for him at the riverbank. [When he comes out of the water, show] him the stick, the one which became a snake.
16 and you have said to him: YHWH, God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Send My people away, and they serve Me in the wilderness; and behold, you have not listened until now.
Say to him, ‘Yahweh God, the one [we] Hebrews [worship], sent me to you to tell you to let my people go, in order that they may worship him in the desert. [We told you that], but you have not paid any attention to it.
17 Thus said YHWH: By this you know that I [am] YHWH; behold, I am striking with the rod which [is] in my hand, on the waters which [are] in the River, and they have been turned to blood,
[So now] Yahweh says this: “This is the way you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do]. Watch this: I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile [River] with the stick that is in my hand. [When I do that], the water will become blood (OR, [red like] blood [MTY]).
18 and the fish that [are] in the River die, and the River has stunk, and the Egyptians have been wearied of drinking waters from the River.”
Then the fish in the Nile [River] will die, and the [water in] the river will stink, and the Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile River.”’”
19 And YHWH says to Moses, “Say to Aaron, Take your rod, and stretch out your hand against the waters of Egypt, against their streams, against their rivers, and against their ponds, and against all their collections of waters; and they are blood—and there has been blood in all the land of Egypt, both in [vessels of] wood, and in [those of] stone.”
Yahweh said to Moses/me, “[When you are talking to the king], say to Aaron, ‘Hold your stick out [as though you were holding it] over the water in Egypt—over the rivers, the canals, the ponds, and over the pools of water, in order that [all of it] may become [red like] blood.’ When Aaron does that, there will be blood throughout Egypt, even in wooden jars and in stone jars.”
20 And Moses and Aaron do so, as YHWH has commanded, and he lifts up [his hand] with the rod, and strikes the waters which [are] in the River, before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the waters which [are] in the River are turned to blood,
So Aaron and Moses/I did what Yahweh commanded. As the king and his officials were watching, Aaron lifted up his stick and then struck the water in the Nile [River] with it. And all the water in the river turned [red like] blood.
21 and the fish which [is] in the River has died, and the River stinks, and the Egyptians have not been able to drink water from the River; and the blood is in all the land of Egypt.
Then all the fish died. And the water stank, with the result that the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. Everywhere in Egypt [the water] became [red like] blood.
22 And the enchanters of Egypt do so with their secrets, and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he has not listened to them, as YHWH has spoken,
But the men who performed magic did the same thing using their magic. So the king remained stubborn [IDM], and he would not pay attention to what Aaron and Moses/I said, just as Yahweh had predicted.
23 and Pharaoh turns and goes into his house, and has not set his heart even to this;
The king turned and went back to his palace, and he did not think any more about it [IDM].
24 and all the Egyptians seek water all around the River to drink, for they have not been able to drink of the waters of the River.
The Egyptians [HYP] dug [into the ground] near the Nile [River] to get water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
25 And seven days are completed after YHWH’s striking the River.
(One week/Seven days) passed after Yahweh caused the water in the Nile [River to become red like blood].

< Exodus 7 >