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

“A staff,” he replied.

³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from it,

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers—the magicians^(A) of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.^{(B) 12} Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

⁶ An oracle^(A) about the animals of the Negev:^[a]