Go to Pharaoh is addressed only to Moses (singular), although the context suggests that Aaron would accompany him (verse 19). In the morning means “Tomorrow morning” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), but it does not specify what time of the morning. The next phrase suggests it was shortly after sunrise. As he is going out to the water may have to be rendered as “before he goes out to the water” or “when he goes down to the Nile” (Good News Translation), for the next command is to wait for him. This suggests that Moses was to “confront him” (New Jerusalem Bible) before the king could do whatever he intended to do. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “station yourself before him.”

The water, as the next clause indicates, was “the Nile” River. By the river’s brink means “on the riverbank” (Good News Translation), or “on the bank of the Nile” (New English Bible), or even “beside the Nile River” (Contemporary English Version). The river always means “the Nile” River when the setting is in Egypt. It may be assumed that the king’s palace was not far from the river, and that he bathed there regularly, as his daughter did (see 2.5).

And take in your hand the rod may be rendered simply as “Take with you,” for it is understood that a rod, or “walking stick,” is carried in the hand. (This word for rod was used at 4.2 and 4.20.) The rod which was turned into a serpent refers to Moses’ rod in 4.2-4, not to Aaron’s rod in 7.10. In some languages this will be expressed as “the walking stick that became a snake,” avoiding the passive “was turned into.” The word for serpent here is the common word for “snake,” not the word used in 7.9-12. (See the comment at 7.9.) For a more logical sequence, it may be helpful to interchange the last two clauses of this verse, as Good News Translation has done. For example, the four segments in Revised Standard Version—a, b, c, d—are rearranged in Good News Translation to a, b, d, c. It is also possible to restructure the verse in the following way: “Tomorrow morning, take the stick that turned into a snake. Then as the king goes down to the Nile River, wait for him on the river bank.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .