Bible Strands
Exodus 7:19
And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks to Moses, instructing him to relay a command to Aaron during the initial plague sequence in Egypt. This directive occurs immediately after the warning that the Nile's fish will die and the water will become undrinkable.
The words — The text opens with וַ/יֹּאמֶר (va/i.Yo.mer), meaning "and he said," establishing Yahweh as the speaker. It then commands אֶל\־ אַהֲרֹן קַח ('el- 'a.ha.Ron kach), literally "to Aaron, take," specifying the instrument for the judgment.
The thread — This command to stretch a staff over Egyptian waters reappears in Exodus 8:5 and parallels the later sea-crossing in Exodus 14:21. The dust-to-plague instruction in Exodus 8:16 follows immediately after this water-to-blood event.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that divine authority overrides earthly power by transforming a life-giving resource into a source of death. It requires the reader to acknowledge that obedience to the command, executed through Aaron's staff, brings the stated judgment to completion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
Cross-references
- Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Exodus 8:5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”
- Exodus 8:16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’”
- Exodus 10:12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.”
- Exodus 10:21 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”
- Exodus 14:26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”
- Genesis 1:10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
- Exodus 9:22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.”
- Exodus 9:33 Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.