Exodus 7
Exodus 7:1 And Yahveh said to Moses, “See, I have given you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
Exodus 7:2 You will tell all that I command you, and your brother Aaron will tell Pharaoh to send the sons of Israel out of his land.
Exodus 7:3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
Exodus 7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will give my hand to Egypt and bring my armies, my people the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
Exodus 7:5 The Egyptians will know that I am Yahveh, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and expel the sons of Israel from among them.”
Exodus 7:6 Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as Yahveh commanded them.
Exodus 7:7 And Moses was already eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Exodus 7:8 At that time Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,
Exodus 7:9 “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Give for yourselves a miracle,’ then you will say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a crocodile.'”[1]
Exodus 7:10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as Yahveh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his slaves, and it became a crocodile.
Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh called the wise men and the ones who practice magic, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
Exodus 7:12 Because each man threw down his staff, and they became crocodiles. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
Exodus 7:13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was made strong, and he would not listen to them, as Yahveh had spoken.
Exodus 7:14 So Yahveh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to send out the people.
Exodus 7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, notice, 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 snake.
Exodus 7:16 And you will say to him, ‘Yahveh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, and this is what he said, “Send away my people, so that they may serve me in the open country. But I noticed so far, you have not obeyed.”
Exodus 7:17 Now Yahveh says, “By this you will know that I am Yahveh: notice, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it will turn into blood.
Exodus 7:18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will get tired of drinking water from the Nile.”‘”
Exodus 7:19 And Yahveh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the water sources of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there will be blood all the way through the land of Egypt, even in containers made of wood and in containers made of stone.'”
Exodus 7:20 Moses and Aaron did what Yahveh commanded. While Pharaoh and his slaves looked on, he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
Exodus 7:21 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 all the way through the land of Egypt.
Exodus 7:22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So, Pharaoh’s heart remained strong, and he would not listen to them, as Yahveh had said.
Exodus 7:23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.
Exodus 7:24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.
Exodus 7:25 Seven full days passed after Yahveh had struck the Nile.
[1] תַּנִּין = crocodile. Exodus 7:9, 10, 12. (HALOT #10234, B2b).
Exodus 7 quotes:
“Translations usually miss God’s improvisation and the highly symbolic significance of this text. (The NIV unfortunately has “snake.”) The word is not the same one used to refer to Moses’ staff becoming a snake (nakhash) in 4:3. Aaron’s staff became a “monstrous snake” (so Durham, from tannin) or perhaps a “crocodile” (the Egyptian crocodile god was Sobek). In other biblical texts the NIV translates this word as “monster of the deep” (Job 7:12) or as “monster” (Isa. 27:1), associated with Leviathan, the symbol of the chaos of the sea (see also Pss. 74:13; 148:7; Isa. 51:9; Jer. 51:34; Gen. 1:21). The word occurs in parallel verse with “cobra” in Deuteronomy 32:33 and Psalm 91:13. In Ezekiel it is a symbol of the pharaoh (Ezek. 29:3; 32:2). The point is that it was a large and terrifying reptile that was a symbol of Pharaoh’s power and the chaos he had brought upon the children of Israel. The emphasis stands in contrast to verse 15, where Moses’ staff “that was changed into a snake” once again uses the common word for snake (nakhash).”
Bruckner James K. Exodus. Hendrickson Publishers ; Paternoster 2008. p. 75-76.
“… the contest is between Yahweh and the gods of Egypt—a power struggle to determine who is in control of human affairs. Of course, Yahweh will ultimately prevail, and perhaps 7:3—regardless of the problematic nature—is an important means by which the text declares Yahweh’s ultimate sovereignty over all life. Exodus 7:5 affirms this perspective. When the matter is finally settled, “the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh.” Pharaoh’s struggle is with the sovereign Lord of all creation.”
Newsome, James D. Exodus. 1st ed, Geneva Press, 1998. p. 29.
” After the obedience, the manifestation of the promise occurs. This is always the pattern.”
Dean, Jennifer Kennedy. Fueled by Faith : Living Vibrantly in the Power of Prayer. New Hope Publishers, 2005. p. 125.
Exodus 7 links:
Exodus- contest
getting Egypt’s attention
when miracles are insufficient
where we live
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