1Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.’
6Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Aaron’s staff becomes a snake
8The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9‘When Pharaoh says to you, “Perform a miracle,” then say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,” and it will become a snake.’
10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11Pharaoh then summoned the wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
The plague of blood
14Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16Then 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 me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17This is what the Lord says: by this you will know that I am the Lord: with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.” ’
19The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt – over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs – and they will turn to blood.” Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels7:19 Or even on their idols of wood and stone.’
20Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
22But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.
The plague of frogs
25Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.
1እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ሙሴን እንዲህ አለው፤ “ልብ በል፤ እኔ አንተን ለፈርዖን እንደ አምላክ (ኤሎሂም) አድርጌሃለሁ፤ ወንድምህ አሮንም ያንተ ነቢይ ይሆናል። 2እኔ የማዝህን ሁሉ ትናገራለህ፤ ወንድምህ አሮንም እስራኤላውያንን ከአገሩ እንዲወጡ ይለቅቃቸው ዘንድ ለፈርዖን ይነግረዋል። 3እኔ ግን የፈርዖንን ልብ አደነድናለሁ፤ ታምራዊ ምልክቶችንና ድንቆችን በግብፅ ላይ በብዛት ባደርግም እንኳ፣ አይሰማችሁም። 4ከዚያም እጄን በግብፅ ላይ አደርጋለሁ፤ በኀያል ፍርድም ሰራዊቴን፣ ሕዝቤን እስራኤላውያንን አወጣለሁ። 5እጄን በግብፅ ላይ ስዘረጋና እስራኤላውያንንም ከዚያ ሳወጣ፣ ግብፃውያን እኔ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) መሆኔን ያውቃሉ።”
6ሙሴና አሮን እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንደ አዘዛቸው አደረጉ። 7ፈርዖንን ባነጋገሩበት ጊዜ ሙሴ ዕድሜው ሰማንያ ዓመት፣ አሮን ደግሞ ሰማንያ ሦስት ነበር።
የአሮን በትር እባብ ሆነች
8እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ሙሴንና አሮንን እንዲህ አላቸው፣ 9“ፈርዖን፣ ‘ታምር አሳዩኝ’ ባላችሁ ጊዜ፣ አሮንን እንዲህ በለው፤ ‘በትርህን ውሰድና በፈርዖን ፊት ጣላት፤’ ከዚያም እባብ ትሆናለች።”
10ስለዚህ ሙሴና አሮን ወደ ፈርዖን ሄደው እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንዳዘዛቸው አደረጉ። አሮን በትሩን በፈርዖንና በሹማምቱ ፊት ጣላት፤ እባብም ሆነች። 11ከዚያም ፈርዖን ጠቢባኑንና መተተኞቹን ጠራ፤ የግብፅ አስማተኞችም በድብቅ ጥበባቸው ያንኑ አደረጉ፤ 12እያንዳንዱ የያዛትን በትር ጣለ፤ እባብም ሆነች። ነገር ግን የአሮን በትር የእነርሱን በትሮች ዋጠች። 13ሆኖም የፈርዖን ልብ ደነደነ፤ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ተናግሮ እንደ ነበረውም አላዳመጣቸውም።
የደም መቅሠፍት
14ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ሙሴን እንዲህ አለው፤ “የፈርዖን ልብ ደነደነ፤ ሕዝቡን ለመልቀቅ አልፈቀደም። 15ወደ ውሃው በሚሄድበት ጊዜ ማልደህ ወደ ፈርዖን ሂድ፤ እንድታገኘውም በአባይ ዳር ተጠባበቅ፤ ወደ እባብ ተለውጣ የነበረችውንም በትር በእጅህ ያዝ። 16ከዚያም እንዲህ በለው፤ ‘የዕብራውያን አምላክ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) “ሕዝቤ በምድረ በዳ ያመልኩኝ ዘንድ እንዲሄዱ ልቀቃቸው” ብዬ እንድነግርህ ላከኝ፤ አንተ ግን እስካሁን ድረስ እሺ አላልህም። 17እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) የሚለው ይህ ነው፤ “እኔ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንደ ሆንሁ በዚህ ታውቃለህ፤ እይ በዚህች በእጄ በያዝኋት በትር የአባይን ውሃ እመታለሁ፤ ወደ ደምም ይለወጣል። 18በአባይ ወንዝ ውስጥ ያለው ዓሣ ይሞታል፤ ወንዙ ይከረፋል፤ ግብፃውያንም ውሃውን መጠጣት አይችሉም።” ’ ”
19እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ሙሴን አለው፤ “አሮንን፣ ‘በትርህን ውሰድና በግብፅ ውሆች ላይ፣ ይኸውም በምንጮች፣ በቦዮች፣ በኵሬዎችና በውሃ ማጠራቀሚያዎች ላይ እጅህን ዘርጋ’ ብለህ ንገረው፤ ወደ ደምም ይለወጣሉ። ከዕንጨትና ከድንጋይ በተሠሩ ውሃ መያዣዎች ውስጥም ሳይቀር በግብፅ ምድር ደም በየቦታው ይሆናል።”
20ሙሴና አሮን እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንደ አዘዛቸው አደረጉ። እርሱም በንጉሡና በሹማምንቱ ፊት በትሩን አንሥቶ የአባይን ወንዝ ውሃ መታ፤ ውሃውም በሙሉ ወደ ደም ተለወጠ። 21በአባይ ያሉት ዓሦች ሞቱ፤ ወንዙም ከመከርፋቱ የተነሣ ግብፃውያኑ ውሃውን ሊጠጡት አልቻሉም። በግብፅ ምድር ሁሉ ደም ነበረ።
22የግብፅ አስማተኞች በድብቅ ጥበባቸው ተመሳሳይ ነገር አደረጉ፤ የፈርዖንም ልብ ደነደነ፤ ልክ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንደ ተናገረው ሙሴንና አሮንን አልሰማቸውም። 23ተመልሶ ወደ ቤተ መንግሥቱ ገባ እንጂ ይህን ከቁም ነገር አልቈጠረውም። 24ግብፃውያን ሁሉ የወንዙን ውሃ መጠጣት ባለመቻላቸው ውሃ ለማግኘት የአባይን ዳር ይዘው ጕድጓድ ቈፈሩ።
25እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) አባይን ከመታ ሰባት ቀን ዐለፈ።
