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. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe^(C) that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river.^(A) Confront him on the bank of the Nile,^(B) and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

¹⁷ This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord:^(A) With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.^(B)

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded.^(A) He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile,^(B) and all the water was changed into blood.^(C)

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone^(A) me.”

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff^(B) with which you struck the Nile,^(C) and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.^(D) Strike^(E) the rock, and water^(F) will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah^[a](G) and Meribah^[b](H) because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Amalekites Defeated

⁸ The Amalekites^(I) came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.^{(J) 9} Moses said to Joshua,^(K) “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff^(L) of God in my hands.”

⁸ The next day Moses entered the tent^(A) and saw that Aaron’s staff,^(B) which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.^(C)

³¹ Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”