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The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

14 [a]Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; wait for him by the river’s brink, and take in your hand the rod which was turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness; and behold, you have not yet obeyed.”

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Footnotes

  1. 7.14 Here begins the story of the ten plagues. Again, the narrative is composite and originally different traditions knew of different numbers of plagues. All, however, lead up to the climax of the death of the first-born. Some of the plagues correspond to natural phenomena that are known to occur, or to have occurred in the past, in Egypt.

The Plague of Blood

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding;(A) he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river.(B) Confront him on the bank of the Nile,(C) and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship(D) me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.(E)

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