The Ten Plagues of Egypt

When Moses and Aaron first approached Pharaoh’s magnificent throne room with God’s message, “Let my people go,” the ruler of Egypt laughed in their faces. Pharaoh was considered a living god by his people, the most powerful man in the known world, commanding armies and ruling over millions. The idea that two Hebrew brothers could demand anything from him was absurd.

“Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?” Pharaoh declared arrogantly. “I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.”

But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was about to demonstrate His power in ways that would shake Egypt to its very foundations and be remembered for thousands of years to come.

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

The next morning, as was his custom, Pharaoh went down to the Nile River for his ritual bathing. The Nile was sacred to the Egyptians, worshipped as a god itself, for it brought life to their desert land. Moses and Aaron were waiting for him on the riverbank.

“This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says,” Moses declared boldly. “Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But you have not listened. So this is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.”

Pharaoh’s advisors scoffed, but Moses raised his staff high above the sacred river. As Aaron struck the water with the rod, an incredible transformation began. The clear, life-giving waters of the Nile turned deep red, thick as blood. The change spread rapidly upstream and downstream until the entire river system – every canal, every reservoir, every water jar – contained blood instead of water.

The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so terrible that the Egyptians could not drink its water. For seven days, there was no clean water anywhere in Egypt. People dug frantically along the riverbank, hoping to find water that had not been contaminated.

But Pharaoh’s magicians, using their secret arts, also turned water into blood. “This is nothing special,” Pharaoh declared, his heart growing harder. “My own wise men can do the same thing.” He refused to let the people go.

The Second Plague: Frogs

Seven days later, Moses and Aaron returned to Pharaoh. “Let my people go,” Moses repeated. “If you refuse, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.”

When Pharaoh again refused, Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the land. But these were not ordinary frogs in normal numbers. Millions upon millions of frogs swarmed out of the Nile and its tributaries, covering every inch of Egyptian soil.

The frogs invaded everything. They hopped into houses and bedrooms, into ovens and kneading troughs. They covered Pharaoh’s palace from the basement to the roof. Egyptians couldn’t walk without stepping on frogs, couldn’t eat without finding frogs in their food, couldn’t sleep without frogs jumping on their beds. The croaking was so loud that conversation became impossible.

Pharaoh’s magicians produced more frogs with their secret arts, but this only made the situation worse. Finally, in desperation, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron.

“Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people,” he pleaded, “and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD.”

Moses prayed, and the next day all the frogs died. They were piled into heaps throughout Egypt, and the land reeked with the smell of dead frogs. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart again and would not let the people go.

The Third Plague: Gnats

Without warning, Aaron struck the dust of the ground with his staff, and throughout Egypt the dust became gnats. Tiny, biting insects swarmed on people and animals alike, covering them so thickly that they looked like moving carpets of bugs.

Pharaoh’s magicians tried to produce gnats with their secret arts, but this time they failed completely. “This is the finger of God,” they told Pharaoh, beginning to understand that they were witnessing divine power beyond human ability to imitate.

But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he would not listen.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

The LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘Let my people go. If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses.’”

But this time, God made a distinction that would become increasingly important: “But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land.”

Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies, but in Goshen, where the Israelites lived, there was not a single fly.

Seeing this clear distinction, Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron. “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land,” he offered as a compromise.

But Moses refused. “We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he commands us.”

“I will let you go,” Pharaoh promised, “but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

Moses prayed, and the flies disappeared completely. But once again, Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Disease

The LORD sent Moses to Pharaoh with an even more serious warning: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field – on your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats.”

Again, God made a distinction: “But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.”

The next day, all the livestock of the Egyptians died – their horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. The economic devastation was enormous, as these animals represented the wealth and livelihood of the Egyptian people. But not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.

Pharaoh sent men to investigate and confirmed that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart remained unyielding, and he would not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

Without any warning, the LORD told Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”

They took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals alike. The boils were so severe that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.

For the first time, Pharaoh’s advisors were physically unable to even appear in his presence, struck down by the very plague they had failed to duplicate or counter.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

Moses warned Pharaoh: “Let my people go, so that they may worship the LORD. This time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.”

He continued with a terrifying warning: “Tomorrow at this time I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.”

Some of Pharaoh’s officials, now beginning to fear the LORD, hurried to bring their slaves and livestock inside. But others ignored Moses’ warning.

The next day, Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. The hail struck down everything in the fields – both people and animals. It beat down every plant and stripped every tree bare.

The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron immediately. “This time I have sinned,” he admitted. “The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”

But Moses, knowing Pharaoh’s heart, replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God.”

As Moses predicted, when the hail stopped, Pharaoh sinned again and hardened his heart.

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.”

Pharaoh’s officials were now terrified. “How long will this man be a snare to us?” they pleaded with their king. “Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”

For the first time, Pharaoh showed signs of compromise. He called Moses and Aaron back. “Go, worship the LORD your God. But tell me who will be going.”

“We will go with our young and our old,” Moses replied, “with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the LORD.”

Pharaoh’s eyes flashed with anger. “No! Have only the men go and worship the LORD, since that’s what you have been asking for.” And he drove Moses and Aaron out of his presence.

So the LORD made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.

They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail – every plant in the fields and the fruit on every tree. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you,” he confessed. “Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

Moses prayed, and the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt – darkness that can be felt.”

Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. The darkness was supernatural, so thick and oppressive that it seemed to have physical weight. The Egyptians groped helplessly in their homes, unable to function.

Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses. “Go, worship the LORD,” he said desperately. “Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”

But Moses replied, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God. Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind.”

Pharaoh’s fury erupted. “Get out of my sight!” he shouted. “Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die!”

“Just as you say,” Moses replied calmly. “I will never appear before you again.”

The Final Warning

But Moses had one last message from the LORD: “About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt – worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.”

The stage was set for the most terrible plague of all – one that would finally break Pharaoh’s stubborn will and set God’s people free. But it would also demonstrate that the God of Israel was not only the God of judgment but also the God of salvation, providing a way of escape for all who would trust in His provision.

The ten plagues had systematically dismantled Egypt’s gods and demonstrated that the LORD alone is God. The Nile, worshipped as divine, had been turned to blood. The sun god Ra had been defeated by supernatural darkness. The sacred animals had died, and the land lay in ruins.

Now came the final test – would Pharaoh finally acknowledge the LORD and let His people go, or would he persist in his rebellion until the very end? The fate of every firstborn in Egypt hung in the balance, and only the blood of a lamb could provide protection from the angel of death who was about to pass through the land.

The greatest demonstration of God’s power was complete, but the greatest demonstration of His mercy was yet to come.