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.”
10. So 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.
11. So Pharaoh called for his wise men and magicians. These men used their magic, and they were able to do the same thing as Aaron.
12. They threw their walking sticks on the ground, and their sticks became snakes. But then Aaron’s walking stick ate theirs.
13. Pharaoh still refused to let the people go, just as the Lord had said. Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
14. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh is being stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.
15. In 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.
16. Tell him this: ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you. He told me to tell you to let his people go worship him in the desert. Until now you have not listened to the Lord.
17. So 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 turn into blood.
18. The 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.’”
19. The 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 turn into blood. All the water, even the water stored in wood and stone jars, will turn into blood.”