Exodus 7:14-24

The Plague of Blood

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.

15 Go 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.

16 Then 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.

17 This 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.

18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’ ”

19 The 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 vessels^[a] of wood and stone.”

20 Moses 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.

21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22 But 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.

23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.

24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

Exodus 7:14-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 7

Moses and Aaron are ordered to go to Pharaoh, and require the dismission of the people of Israel, but they are told before hand that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened, and would refuse to let them go, until the hand of the Lord was stretched out, and great judgments were brought down upon, Egypt, and then they should come forth, Ex 7:1-5, which orders Moses and Aaron obeyed, and their age is observed, when this was done, Ex 7:6,7 and they are bid to work a miracle, when Pharaoh should demand one, by turning a rod into a serpent, which they did; but Pharaoh's magicians doing the same in appearance, his heart was hardened, Ex 7:8-14 and then they are directed to meet him at the river, and require the same as before; and if he refused, to smite the waters of the river with the rod, and turn them into blood, which they did, Ex 7:15-21, but Pharaoh's magicians doing the same by enchantments, he did not regard it, though the plague lasted seven days, Ex 7:22-25.

Cross References

• 1. ver 22; Exodus 8:15,32; Exodus 9:7; Exodus 10:1,20,27
• 2. Exodus 8:20
• 3. S Genesis 41:1
• 4. S Exodus 3:18; Exodus 5:1,3
• 5. S ver 4
• 6. S Exodus 6:2; Exodus 14:25; Exodus 5:2
• 7. ver 19-21; Exodus 4:9; Revelation 11:6; Revelation 16:4
• 8. Isaiah 19:6
• 9. ver 21,24; Psalms 78:44
• 10. S Exodus 4:2
• 11. Ex 8:5-6,16; Exodus 9:22; Exodus 10:12,21; Exodus 14:21; 2 Kings 5:11
• 12. S ver 6
• 13. Exodus 17:5
• 14. Psalms 78:44; Psalms 105:29; Psalms 114:3; Habakkuk 3:8
• 15. S Genesis 41:8
• 16. S ver 11; S Matthew 24:24
• 17. ver 13,S 14; Exodus 8:19; Psalms 105:28
• 18. S ver 18

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "even on their idols"