There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife. 2 She conceived and gave birth to a son, and seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. 4 His sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.
5 Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. 6 She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews,’ she said. 7 Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’ 8 ‘Yes, go,’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own mother. 9 To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but it was not being burnt up. 3 ‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said, ‘and see why the bush is not burnt.’ 4 Now Yahweh saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. ‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am,’ he answered. 5 ‘Come no nearer,’ he said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father,’ he said, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.
7 And Yahweh said, ‘I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt... 8 I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyp- tians and bring them up out of that land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow... 10 so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt... 21 I will give this people such prestige in the eyes of the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman will ask her neighbour and the woman who is staying in her house for silver ornaments and gold. With these you will adorn your sons and daughters; you will plunder the Egyptians.’
Then Moses answered, ‘What if they will not believe me or listen to my words and say to me, “Yahweh has not appeared to you?”’ 2 Yahweh asked him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ Moses said. 3 ‘Throw it on the ground,’ said Yahweh; so Moses threw his staff on the ground—it turned into a serpent and he drew back from it. 4 ‘Put your hand out and catch it by the tail,’ Yahweh said to him. And he put out his hand and caught it, and in his hand the serpent turned into a staff...
6 Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, ‘Put your hand into your bosom.’ He put his hand into his bosom and when he drew it out, his hand was covered with leprosy, white as snow. 7 ‘Put your hand back into your bosom.’ He put his hand back into his bosom, and when he drew it out, there it was restored, just like the rest of his flesh. 8 ‘Even so: should they not believe you nor be convinced by the first sign, the second will convince them; 9 but if they should believe neither of these two signs and not listen to your words, you must take water from the river and pour it on the ground, and the water you have drawn from the river will turn to blood on the ground.’
8 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, 9 ‘If Pharaoh says to you, “Produce some marvel,” you must say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and let it turn into a serpent.”’ 10 To Pharaoh, then, Moses and Aaron duly went, and they did as Yahweh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his court, and it turned into a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh in his turn called for the sages and the sorcerers, and with their witchcraft the magicians of Egypt did the same. 12 Each threw his staff down and these turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the staffs of the magicians. 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.
14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh is adamant. He refuses to let the people go. 15 In the morning go to him as he makes his way to the water and wait for him by the bank of the river. In your hand take the staff that turned into a serpent. 16 Say to him, “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say: Let my people go to offer me worship in the wilderness. Now, so far you have not listened. 17 Here is Yahweh’s message: That I am Yahweh you shall learn by this: with the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water of the river and it shall be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the river will die, and the river will smell so foul that the Egyptians will not want to drink the water of it.”’
19 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say this to Aaron: “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers and their canals, their marshland, and all their reservoirs, and let them turn to blood throughout the land of Egypt, even down to the contents of every tub or jar.”’ 20 Moses and Aaron did as Yahweh commanded. He raised his staff and in the sight of Pharaoh and his court he struck the waters of the river, and all the water in the river changed to blood. 21 The fish in the river died, and the river smelt so foul that the Egyptians found it impossible to drink its water. Throughout the land of Egypt there was blood. 22 But the magicians of Egypt used their witchcraft to do the same, so that Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron. 23 Pharaoh turned away and went back into his palace, taking no notice even of this. 24 Meanwhile, all the Egyptians dug holes along the banks of the river in search of drinking water; they found the water of the river impossible to drink. 25 After Yahweh had struck the river, seven days passed.
26 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “This is Yahweh’s message: Let my people go to offer me worship. 27 If you refuse to let them go, know that I will plague the whole of your country with frogs. 28 The river will swarm with them; they will make their way into your palace, into your bedroom, on to your bed, into the houses of your courtiers and of your subjects, into your ovens, into your kneading bowls. 29 The frogs will even climb all over you, over your courtiers, and over all your subjects.”’
Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say this to Aaron: “Stretch out your hand, with your staff, over the rivers, the canals, the marsh-land, and make frogs swarm all over the land of Egypt.”’ 2 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 3 But the magicians did the same with their witchcraft, and made frogs swarm all over the land of Egypt.
4 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, ‘Entreat Yahweh’ he said ‘to rid me and my subjects of the frogs, and promise to let the people go and offer sacrifice to Yahweh.’ 5 Moses answered Pharaoh, ‘Take this chance to get the better of me!’ When I pray on your account and for your courtiers, and for your subjects, what time am I to fix for the frogs to leave you and your subjects and your houses, and stay in the river?’ 6 ‘Tomorrow,’ Pharaoh said. ‘It shall be as you say,’ answered Moses... 7 The frogs will go from you and your palaces, your courtiers and your subjects; they will stay in the river.’ 8 When Moses and Aaron had gone from Pharaoh’s presence, Moses pleaded with Yahweh about the frogs with which he had afflicted Pharaoh. 9 And Yahweh granted Moses’ prayer: in house and courtyard and field the frogs died. 10 They piled them up in heaps and the land reeked of them. 11 But as soon as he saw that relief had been granted, Pharaoh became adamant again... [Exodos 9]
13 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Say to him... 18 “Tomorrow ...at about this time I will let fall so great a storm of hail as was never known in Egypt from the day of its foundation. 19 So now have your livestock, and everything that is yours in the fields put under cover: on man and beast, on all that remains in the fields and is not brought indoors, the hail will fall and they will die.”’ 20 Some of Pharaoh’s courtiers, terrified by Yahweh’s threat, brought their slaves and livestock indoors, 21 but those who disregarded Yahweh’s threat left their slaves and livestock in the fields. 22 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on man and beast and all that grows in the fields in the land of Egypt.’ 23 Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and Yahweh thundered, and rained down hail. Lightning struck the earth. Yahweh rained down hail on the land of Egypt. 24 The hail fell, and lightning flashing in the midst of it, a greater storm of hail than had ever been known in Egypt since it first became a nation. 25 Throughout the land of Egypt the hail struck down everything in the fields, man and beast. It struck all the crops in the fields, and it shattered every tree in the fields. 26 Only in the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived was there no hail.