Exodus 7–8
1 So the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 Nevertheless, Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that I may lay My hand upon Egypt and bring forth My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
6 So Moses and Aaron did it. Just as the Lord commanded them, so they did. 7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 9 “When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and throw it before Pharaoh,’ and it shall become a serpent.”
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and they did what the Lord had commanded. And Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Then the magicians of Egypt likewise performed with their secret arts. 12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13 Nonetheless, Pharaoh’s heart hardened so that he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
14 The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him. You must take the rod which was turned to a serpent in your hand. 16 Then you are to say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness.” But up to this point you have not listened! 17 Thus says the Lord, “In this you shall know that I am the Lord: Indeed, I will strike the waters of the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood. 18 And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall stink so that the Egyptians shall be weary of drinking the river’s water.”’”
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, so that they may become blood. And there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.’”
20 Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. And he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river. Blood was everywhere throughout the land of Egypt.
22 Nevertheless, the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not concern himself with this either. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around about the river for water to drink, because they could not drink of the water of the river.
25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.
Chapter 8
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, then I will plague all your borders with frogs. 3 And the river will swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedchamber, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs. 4 So the frogs shall come upon you, upon your people, and upon all your servants.’”
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch forth your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’”
6 Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 7 The magicians did the same with their secret arts and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the Lord, that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people, and I will let the people go, so that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Glory yourself over me: When shall I entreat for you, your servants, and your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only?”
10 And he said, “Tomorrow.”
Then he said, “Be it according to your word, in order that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”
12 Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13 Then the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, the villages, and the fields. 14 So they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.’” 17 They did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smote the dust of the earth, and it became gnats on man and on beast. All the dust of the land became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt. 18 Then the magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not, so there were gnats upon man and beast.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” Nevertheless, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
20 So the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes forth to the water and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. 21 Otherwise, if you will not let My people go, indeed I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies and also the ground wherever they are.
22 “‘I will in that day set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 23 I will put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will happen.’”
24 The Lord did so, and great swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.
25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”
26 Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for what we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God would be an abomination to the Egyptians. If we shall sacrifice what is an abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and then we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He shall command us.”
28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Only you shall not go very far away. Make entreaty for me.”
29 Moses said, “Indeed, I am leaving you, and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”
30 Moses went away from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. 31 Then the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. 32 Nevertheless, Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, nor would he let the people go.
Matthew 15:1–20
1 Then scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples violate the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
3 But He answered them, “Why do you also violate the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or his mother, “What you would have profited from me is a gift to God,” 6 will be free from honoring his father or his mother.’ So you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, Isaiah well prophesied of you, saying:
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
9 In vain they do worship Me,
teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”
10 He called the crowds and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 That which goes into the mouth does not defile a man, but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch.”
15 Then Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16 Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters at the mouth goes into the stomach and is cast out into the sewer? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”