² The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³ “Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”^(A)

¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.^(A)

¹⁷ This is what the Lord says: Here is how you will know that I am the Lord. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.^(A)

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” ^(A)

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. ⁶ I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water^(B) will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah^[a] and Meribah^[b](C) because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Amalekites Attack

⁸ At Rephidim, Amalek^[c](D) came and fought against Israel. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua,^(E) “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

⁸ The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds!

³¹ Gehazi went ahead of them and placed the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life, so he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”^(A)