Passage: Exodus 6, 7, 8 (RSV)


Exodus 6


1But the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, yea, with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land."
2And God said to Moses, "I am the LORD.
3I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.
4I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they dwelt as sojourners.
5Moreover I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold in bondage and I have remembered my covenant.
6Say therefore to the people of Israel, `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment,
7and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'"
9Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel; but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel bondage.
10And the LORD said to Moses,
11"Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land."
12But Moses said to the LORD, "Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, who am a man of uncircumcised lips?"
13But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a charge to the people of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
14These are the heads of their fathers' houses: the sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.
15The sons of Simeon: Jemu'el, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.
16These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merar'i, the years of the life of Levi being a hundred and thirty-seven years.
17The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shim'e-i, by their families.
18The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz'ziel, the years of the life of Kohath being a hundred and thirty-three years.
19The sons of Merar'i: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.
20Amram took to wife Joch'ebed his father's sister and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being one hundred and thirty-seven years.
21The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
22And the sons of Uz'ziel: Mi'sha-el, Elza'phan, and Sithri.
23Aaron took to wife Eli'sheba, the daughter of Ammin'adab and the sister of Nahshon; and she bore him Nadab, Abi'hu, Elea'zar, and Ith'amar.
24The sons of Korah: Assir, Elka'nah, and Abi'asaph; these are the families of the Ko'rahites.
25Elea'zar, Aaron's son, took to wife one of the daughters of Pu'ti-el; and she bore him Phin'ehas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites by their families.
26These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said: "Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts."
27It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.
28On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
29the LORD said to Moses, "I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you."
30But Moses said to the LORD, "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me?"

Exodus 7


1And the LORD said to Moses, "See, I make you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
2You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
3But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
4Pharaoh will not listen to you; then I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth my hosts, my people the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
5And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them."
6And Moses and Aaron did so; they did as the LORD commanded them.
7Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9"When Pharaoh says to you, `Prove yourselves by working a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, `Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'"
10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD commanded; Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
11Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts.
12For every man cast down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
13Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them; as the LORD had said.
14Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go.
15Go 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.
16And 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."
17Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and it shall be turned to blood,
18and the fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile shall become foul, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the Nile."'"
19And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, `Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"
20Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, he lifted up the rod and struck the water that was in the Nile, and all the water that was in the Nile turned to blood.
21And the fish in the Nile died; and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them; as the LORD had said.
23Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not lay even this to heart.
24And all the Egyptians dug round about the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
25Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

Exodus 8


1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, `Thus says the LORD, "Let my people go, that they may serve me.
2But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs;
3the Nile shall swarm with frogs which shall come up into your house, and into your bedchamber and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls;
4the frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants."'"
5And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, `Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come upon the land of Egypt!'"
6So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
7But the magicians did the same by their secret arts, and brought frogs upon the land of Egypt.
8Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, "Entreat the LORD to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD."
9Moses said to Pharaoh, "Be pleased to command me when I am to entreat, for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile."
10And he said, "Tomorrow." Moses said, "Be it as you say, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.
11The frogs shall depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile."
12So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried to the LORD concerning the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.
13And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; the frogs died out of the houses and courtyards and out of the fields.
14And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.
15But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them; as the LORD had said.
16Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, `Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.'"
17And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there came gnats on man and beast; all the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
18The magicians tried by their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast.
19And the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them; as the LORD had said.
20Then the LORD said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and wait for Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, `Thus says the LORD, "Let my people go, that they may serve me.
21Else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand.
22But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there; that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
23Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. By tomorrow shall this sign be."'"
24And the LORD did so; there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses, and in all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by reason of the flies.
25Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."
26But Moses said, "It would not be right to do so; for we shall sacrifice to the LORD our God offerings abominable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?
27We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as he will command us."
28So Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make entreaty for me."
29Then Moses said, "Behold, I am going out from you and I will pray to the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only let not Pharaoh deal falsely again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD."
30So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD.
31And the LORD did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained.
32But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.



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