Exodus, Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Verses 1-29: Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Serpent

1. The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
2. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
3. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
4. Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
5. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
6. Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.
7. Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8. Then 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 staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'”
10. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
11. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
12. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
13. Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
14. 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. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that 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. But so far, you have not obeyed.”
17. ‘Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.
18. The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”
19. And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, and over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, so that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'”
20. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
21. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22. But 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.
23. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.
24. And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
25. Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.
26. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, so that they may serve Me.
27. If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs.
28. And the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedroom, and upon your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and upon your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls.
29. And the frogs shall come up both on you and on your people and on all your servants.'”

Interpretation: Exodus 7 begins the series of plagues with which God strikes Egypt to compel Pharaoh to release the Israelites. The transformation of Aaron’s staff into a serpent and the Nile into blood demonstrate God’s power over Pharaoh’s magicians and the natural world. These acts signify the Lord’s supremacy over Egyptian deities and His determination to liberate His people. Despite the clear signs, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, setting the stage for further divine interventions. The narrative underscores themes of divine justice, the struggle between God’s will and human stubbornness, and the lengths to which God will go to fulfill His covenant promises. Verses 26-29, introduce the second plague that God promises to bring upon Egypt if Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelite people go. The threat of frogs swarming in every conceivable personal and public space underscores the intensifying challenge God presents to Pharaoh, emphasizing the extent of divine intervention in securing the Israelites’ release. This passage highlights the escalating nature of the plagues, each serving as a demonstration of God’s power over Egypt and its gods, and a tool to compel Pharaoh to comply with God’s demand for His people’s freedom.