The Plague of Blood

(14) And ה׳ said to Moses, “Pharaoh is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. (15) Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is coming out to the water, and station yourself before him at the edge of the Nile, taking with you the rod that turned into a snake. (16) And say to him, ‘ה, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let My people go that they may worship Me in the wilderness.” But you have paid no heed until now. (17) Thus says ה׳, “By this you shall know that I am ה׳.” See, I shall strike the water in the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood; (18) and the fish in the Nile will die. The Nile will stink so that the Egyptians will find it impossible to drink the water of the Nile.’” (19) And ה׳ said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your rod and hold out your arm over the waters of Egypt—its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water—that they may turn to blood; there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.” (20) Moses and Aaron did just as ה׳ commanded: he lifted up the rod and struck the water in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and all the water in the Nile was turned into blood (21) and the fish in the Nile died. The Nile stank so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and there was blood throughout the land of Egypt. (22) But when the Egyptian magician-priests did the same with their spells, Pharaoh’s heart stiffened and he did not heed them—as ה׳ had spoken. (23) Pharaoh turned and went into his palace, paying no regard even to this. (24) And all the Egyptians had to dig round about the Nile for drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.