Study Desk

Moses grew and became a man. One day he visited his people and saw that they were forced to work very hard. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, one of Moses' own people.

After these two miracles, if they still do not believe or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water will become blood when it touches the ground."

Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, "Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go! I wish you well."

and the Israelites believed. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their troubles, they bowed down and worshiped him.

After Moses and Aaron talked to the people, they went to the king of Egypt and said, "This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go so they may hold a feast for me in the desert.'"

But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. Do not accept fewer. They have become lazy, and that is why they are asking me, ‘Let us go to offer sacrifices to our God.'

Make these people work harder and keep them busy; then they will not have time to listen to the lies of Moses."

As they were leaving the meeting with the king, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them.

So they said to Moses and Aaron, "May the Lord punish you. You caused the king and his officers to hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us."

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name God Almighty, but they did not know me by my name, the Lord .

So Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to him. They were discouraged, and their slavery was hard.

I will punish Egypt with my power, and I will bring the Israelites out of that land. Then they will know I am the Lord ."

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to the king.

They threw their walking sticks on the ground, and their sticks became snakes. But Aaron's stick swallowed theirs.

The Nile River will be filled with frogs. They will come up into your palace, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your officers, and onto your people. They will come into your ovens and into your baking pans.

The frogs will leave you, your houses, your officers, and your people. They will remain only in the Nile."

But when the king saw that they were free of the frogs, he became stubborn again. He did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

They did this, and when Aaron raised the walking stick that was in his hand and struck the dust on the ground, everywhere in Egypt the dust changed into gnats. The gnats got on the people and animals.

Using their tricks, the magicians tried to do the same thing, but they could not make the dust change into gnats. The gnats remained on the people and animals.

The Lord told Moses, "Get up early in the morning, and meet the king of Egypt as he goes out to the river. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go so they can worship me.