"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: "When Pharaoh asks you: Perform a miracle to help you! you will say to Aaron: Take Aaron's staff and throw it before Pharaoh and it will become a serpent! ". Moses and Aaron then came to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them: Aaron threw the staff before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the enchanters, and the magicians of Egypt also did the same thing with their magic. They each threw down his staff and the staffs became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. (Book of Exodus)"