Exodus 7:20 describes the first of the ten plagues God sent on Egypt: Moses, at the LORD’s direction, strikes the water of the Nile with his staff, and the river turns to blood. The verse reports an act of obedience by Moses and Aaron and an act of judgment by God, and it shows that the LORD is making himself known through a visible sign. The narrator of Exodus records the event, and the audience is both Pharaoh and his court, who watch it happen.
Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
Exodus 7:20 (WEB)
What Exodus 7:20 Means
The verse opens with Moses and Aaron doing what the LORD commanded. The point is that God’s word came first and the men carried it out exactly. Nothing about the plague was their idea. They were messengers, and the instruction they received was specific about the rod and the water.
Next comes the act itself: Moses lifts the rod and strikes the water in the river, and all of it turns to blood. The phrase “in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants” tells you this was public. The sign was meant to be seen by the most powerful man in Egypt and the people who served him. It does not promise that every sign God gives will be welcomed, but it does show that the LORD acts in ways people can witness.
The verse by itself does not explain why blood came from the river or what the turning fully involved, and it does not tell you how Pharaoh would respond. Those questions are answered in the verses that follow. What Exodus 7:20 establishes is simpler: God acted, through his servants, in full view of the Egyptian court.
The Context of Exodus 7:20
Exodus is the second book of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally attributed to Moses. Its story begins with Israel enslaved in Egypt and moves toward the deliverance God accomplishes through Moses. The plagues are the sequence of judgments that break Pharaoh’s resistance and display the LORD’s authority over Egypt’s gods and its natural world, which Egyptian religion associated with the Nile.
The verses just before and after Exodus 7:20 matter. In verses 17 and 18, God tells Moses that the water will become blood and the fish will die, so the plague is announced before it happens. In verses 22 and 23, Egypt’s magicians copy the sign, and Pharaoh’s heart remains hard and he goes back into his house. Reading the verse alongside those lines shows that it is part of a contest over who the LORD is, and that Pharaoh’s response is already part of the story.
Key Phrases in Exodus 7:20
Exodus 7:17
The LORD says, “In this you shall know that I am the LORD. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
(WEB)
This verse shows God announcing the plague before it happens, so that the sign will make clear that he is the LORD. Reading it with Exodus 7:20 helps you see that the event was foretold and that its purpose was to reveal God’s identity.
Exodus 14:4
I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will follow after them; and I will get honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” They did so.
(WEB)
Here God says that he will be honored through Pharaoh’s downfall, and that the Egyptians will know he is the LORD. The verse picks up the same theme of making himself known through judgment and deliverance that runs through the plague narrative.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 7:20
Lord, you speak clearly when you choose to, and you act in ways that the world can see. Help me to listen for your word the way Moses and Aaron listened, and to act on it faithfully even when I do not understand every step. When I am tempted to hope that hard truths will go away, remind me that you are not hidden from the events of my life. Give me courage to be honest and obedient in the places where you have asked me to stand. Amen.
