God's Promise Renewed
The parsha opens with God speaking to Moshe and making Himself known in a new and deeper way. God recalls the covenant made with the patriarchs Avraham (Abraham), Yitzchak (Isaac), and Yaakov (Jacob), and promises four things: to bring Israel out from under Egypt's burdens, to save them, to redeem them, and to take them as His own people. It is a promise not only of escape but of relationship, ending with the pledge to bring them into the land sworn to their ancestors. God tells Moshe to carry this message of hope to the enslaved people.
Crushed Spirits
When Moshe brings God's words to the people of Israel, they cannot take them in, worn down by crushing labor and broken spirits. God then sends Moshe back to Par'oh to demand the people's release, but Moshe protests that he is a man of faltering speech, asking how Par'oh will ever listen to him. The Torah pauses here to record the family line of Moshe and Aharon, rooting these two leaders in the tribe of Levi. Reassured by God, the brothers prepare to stand before the most powerful ruler on earth.
Staff and Serpent
Moshe and Aharon come before Par'oh, and Aharon casts down his staff, which turns into a serpent. Par'oh's magicians match the wonder with their own arts, but Aharon's staff swallows theirs, a first quiet sign of whose power is real. Par'oh is unmoved and hardens his heart, refusing to let Israel go. God tells Moshe that the time has come to show Egypt, through a series of mighty blows, that He alone is God.
Blood and Frogs
The plagues begin at the Nile, the lifeline and pride of Egypt. Aharon strikes the water and it turns to blood, so the fish die and the river reeks, yet Par'oh's magicians reproduce the effect and his heart stays hard. Next the land swarms with frogs that fill the palace and the ovens, until Par'oh begs Moshe to pray them away and promises to let the people go. When relief comes, though, Par'oh takes back his word, the first of many broken promises.
Lice, Beasts, and Boils
The next plagues fall in steady succession, each one deepening Egypt's helplessness. The dust of the earth turns to lice, and this time the magicians fail and confess that this is the finger of God. Swarms of wild beasts overrun the Egyptians while sparing the region of Goshen where Israel lives, showing that God is drawing a clear line between the two peoples. A deadly pestilence then strikes Egypt's livestock, and painful boils break out on man and beast, so severe that the magicians cannot even stand before Moshe. Still Par'oh will not yield.
Fire and Hail
The seventh plague is the most terrifying yet: a storm of hail shot through with fire that hammers the fields, shatters the trees, and strikes down anyone left outside. Moshe warns the Egyptians beforehand, and those who fear God's word bring their servants and animals indoors to safety. Battered by the storm, Par'oh confesses for the first time that he has sinned and that God is righteous, begging Moshe to make it stop. But the moment the thunder and hail cease, his heart grows hard once more, and the parsha ends with Israel still enslaved and the struggle unfinished.