Through the Bible – Day 22

₁₄The following men were the heads of their ancestral clans:

₂₆The LORD had commanded Aaron and Moses to lead every family and tribe of Israel out of Egypt, ₂₇and so they ordered the king of Egypt to set the people of Israel free.

₂₈When the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ₂₉he said, “I am the LORD. Tell the king of Egypt everything I say to you.”

₃₀But Moses answered, “You know I am a very poor speaker, and the king will never listen to me.”

₁The LORD said:

₆Moses and Aaron obeyed the LORD ₇and spoke to the king. At the time, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three.

_8-9The LORD said, “Moses, when the king asks you and Aaron to perform a miracle, command Aaron to throw his walking stick down in front of the king, and it will turn into a snake.”

₁₀Moses and Aaron went to the king and his officials and did exactly as the LORD had commanded—Aaron threw the stick down, and it turned into a snake. ₁₁Then the king called in the wise men and the magicians, who used their secret powers to do the same thing— ₁₂they threw down sticks that turned into snakes. But Aaron's snake swallowed theirs. ₁₃The king behaved just as the LORD had said and stubbornly refused to listen.

₁₄The LORD said to Moses:

₂₀Moses and Aaron obeyed the LORD. Aaron held out his stick, then struck the Nile, as the king and his officials watched. The river turned into blood, ₂₁the fish died, and the water smelt so bad that none of the Egyptians could drink it. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

₂₂But the Egyptian magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing. The king did just as the LORD had said—he stubbornly refused to listen. ₂₃Then he went back to his palace and never gave it a second thought. ₂₄The Egyptians had to dig holes along the banks of the Nile for drinking water, because water from the river was unfit to drink.

₂₅Seven days after the LORD had struck the Nile,

₆Aaron obeyed, and suddenly frogs were everywhere in Egypt. ₇But the magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing.

₈The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “If you ask the LORD to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him.”

₉“All right,” Moses answered. “You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river.”

₁₀“Do it tomorrow!” the king replied.

“As you wish,” Moses agreed. “Then everyone will discover that there is no god like the LORD, ₁₁and frogs will no longer be found anywhere, except in the Nile.”

₁₂After Moses and Aaron left the palace, Moses begged the LORD to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king. ₁₃The LORD listened to Moses, and frogs died everywhere—in houses, yards, and fields. ₁₄The dead frogs were placed in piles, and the whole country began to stink. ₁₅But when the king saw that things were now better, he again did just as the LORD had said and stubbornly refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.

₁₆The LORD said to Moses, “Command Aaron to strike the ground with his walking stick, and everywhere in Egypt the dust will turn into gnats.” ₁₇They obeyed, and when Aaron struck the ground with the stick, gnats started swarming on people and animals. In fact, every speck of dust in Egypt turned into a gnat. ₁₈When the magicians tried to use their secret powers to do this, they failed, and gnats stayed on people and animals.

₁₉The magicians told the king, “God has done this.”

But, as the LORD had said, the king was too stubborn to listen.

₂₀The LORD said to Moses:

₂₄The LORD kept his promise—the palace and the homes of the royal officials swarmed with flies, and the rest of the country was infested with them as well. ₂₅Then the king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “Go and sacrifice to your God, but stay here in Egypt.”

₂₆“That's impossible!” Moses replied. “Any sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would disgust the Egyptians, and they would stone us to death. ₂₇No indeed! The LORD has ordered us to walk three days into the desert before offering sacrifices to him, and that's what we have to do.”

₂₈Then the king told him, “I'll let you go into the desert to offer sacrifices, if you don't go very far. But in the meantime, pray for me.”

₂₉“Your Majesty,” Moses replied, “I'll pray for you as soon as I leave, and by tomorrow the flies will stop bothering you, your officials, and the citizens of your country. Only make sure that you're telling the truth this time and that you really intend to let our people offer sacrifices to the LORD.”

₃₀After leaving the palace, Moses prayed, ₃₁and the LORD answered his prayer. Not a fly was left to pester the king, his officials, or anyone else in Egypt. ₃₂But the king turned stubborn again and would not let the people go.

₅₁Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, “Yes, we do.”

₅₂So he told them, “Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom.”

₅₃When Jesus had finished telling these stories, he left ₅₄and went to his home town. He taught in their meeting place, and the people were so amazed that they asked, “Where does he get all this wisdom and the power to perform these miracles? ₅₅Isn't he the son of the carpenter? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ₅₆Don't his sisters still live here in our town? How can he do all this?” ₅₇So the people were very unhappy because of what he was doing.

But Jesus said, “Prophets are honoured by everyone, except the people of their home town and their own family.” ₅₈And because the people did not have any faith, Jesus did not perform many miracles there.