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.

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. ¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers,^(A) and the Egyptian magicians^(B) also did the same things by their secret arts:^{(C) 12} Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

⁶ A prophecy^(A) concerning the animals of the Negev:^(B)