Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh that the God of Israel commanded him to let the people go into the wilderness to hold a festival. Pharaoh asked who the LORD was that he should obey and refused. He decided that the people had too little work, ordered that they receive no straw for bricks, and still required the same number of bricks. Israelite overseers were beaten, and the people blamed Moses and Aaron for making them offensive to Pharaoh.
God told Moses that Pharaoh would drive the people out under a strong hand. Before Pharaoh, Aaron threw down his staff and it became a snake, though Pharaoh’s magicians did the same. Aaron’s staff swallowed theirs, but Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. Aaron struck the Nile and its water became blood; fish died and the river stank. Egyptians dug along the river for water, but Pharaoh did not change his mind.
Frogs covered the land, then gnats came from the dust and flies filled Egyptian houses. Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was set apart. Pharaoh repeatedly offered a limited permission to worship and withdrew it when relief came. Livestock died in a severe disease, boils broke out on people and animals, hail destroyed crops and trees, and locusts consumed what the hail had left. Pharaoh’s servants asked whether he still did not see that Egypt was ruined.
Moses stretched out his hand and darkness covered Egypt for three days, while the Israelites had light where they lived. Pharaoh said the people could go but their flocks and herds must remain. Moses answered that the animals had to go because they did not yet know what would be needed for worship. Pharaoh ordered him never to appear again. Moses announced a final plague: every firstborn in Egypt would die, and then Pharaoh would send the people away. He left Pharaoh in anger.
God told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen, so that God’s wonders would be multiplied in Egypt. Moses and Aaron had performed all the signs before him, but Pharaoh did not let the Israelites go. The story paused before the night of the final plague.