¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand^(A) compels him.

² Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,”^(A) he replied.

³ The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake,^(B) and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe^(C) that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁶ Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous^[a]—it had become as white as snow.^(D)

⁷ “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored,^(E) like the rest of his flesh.

⁸ Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe^(F) you or pay attention to the first sign,^(G) they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood^(H) on the ground.”

⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord^(A) when I stretch out my hand^(B) against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

¹⁷ This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord:^(A) With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.^(B)

⁸ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray^(A) to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices^(B) to the Lord.”

⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time^(C) for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

¹⁰ “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God.^(D)

²² “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen,^(A) where my people live;^(B) no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know^(C) that I, the Lord, am in this land.

¹⁴ or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know^(A) that there is no one like^(B) me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people^(C) with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. ¹⁶ But I have raised you up^[a] for this very purpose,^(D) that I might show you my power^(E) and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

²⁹ Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands^(A) in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth^(B) is the Lord’s.