What do you Know about the 10 Plagues of Egypt?

Egypt United Tours
4 min readJul 6, 2023

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The 10 plagues of Egypt are described in Exodus chapters 7–12. It shows how the God of Israel used natural calamities to convince Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. The purpose of the plagues in the story was to show how much more powerful the God of Israel was than the priests and gods of Egypt.

10 Plagues of Egypt list:

  1. Blood.
  2. Frogs.
  3. Lice or gnats.
  4. Flies.
  5. Livestock.
  6. Boils.
  7. Hail.
  8. Locust.
  9. Darkness.
  10. Death of firstborn.

1- Blood

In fact, the water of the Nile turned to blood as the first plague to strike Egypt. Egypt’s reliance on the Nile River for survival caused chaos throughout the nation as this virus spread. This plague was sent by God through Moses and Aaron. Aaron raised his staff and hit the water with it, turning it into blood, as he brought them to the edge of The Nile. All the fish in the river died from this calamity, and Egypt was flooded with blood. This famine persisted for a whole week. Despite the atrocities, Pharaoh forbade the Israelites from leaving.

2- Frogs

The invasion of frogs into Egypt. Although it may not seem like much in comparison to the river of blood, it was actually rather horrible. Aaron held out his hand over the waters, and frogs swarmed over Egypt. The Bible claimed that frogs covered every square inch of earth in sight. Everywhere the Egyptians went, a swarm of frogs greeted them.

When the Pharaoh realized what he was seeing, he implored Moses and Aaron to ask God to take away the frogs. If the sickness was eradicated, he consented to let the Israelites leave. God exterminated the frogs, but because Pharaoh broke his promise, the Israelites were forced into slavery.

3- Plague of Lice or Gnats

A huge number of insects, believed to be gnats or lice, swarmed throughout Egypt as Aaron pounded the dust with his staff. No matter where they went, the Egyptians were unable to escape the swarms of bugs that followed them. Pharaoh, however, resisted allowing the Israelites to flee.

4- Plague of Flies

These could be Calliphorid or blowflies that hatch from maggot larvae of decomposing carcasses.

The following pandemic creates the idea of swarming insects. After Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go free once more, God sent a plague of flies across Egypt. Egypt was fully overrun by these bothersome, wingless insects, with the exception of Goshen, where the Israelites resided.

5- Plague of Livestock

All of Egypt’s domestic animals perished in the plague of livestock, also known as the pestilence plague. In Biblical times, people’s livelihoods would have depended on their livestock, making this sickness particularly devastating. And to make matters worst, while they dug graves for their own, the Egyptians were forced to watch the Israelites’ animals escape damage.

6- Plague of Boils

Perhaps the worst of all the plagues is this one. The sixth plague to strike Egypt was the boil famine. As the name of the epidemic suggests, it caused the Egyptians to develop hideous pimples all over their bodies. It had to have been unbearably painful. Egyptian animals were also afflicted with boils, so it wasn’t just the people who were affected. On the other hand, there was no harm done to the Israelites.

7- Plague of Hail

A hailstorm attacked the Egyptians. We had never seen hail like that during this outbreak. According to the Bible, the hail that struck Egypt was described as large, lethal ice balls that killed all living things. While some were cunning enough to seek safety indoors, those who did not were immediately butchered. Again, Goshen, the homeland of the Israelites, suffered no harm whatsoever.

As seen by Pharaoh sending for Moses and acknowledging his transgressions in Exodus, this scourge appeared to have reached him. If the sickness disappeared, Pharaoh promised to release God’s people a second time. Although God stopped the hail, Pharaoh resisted letting the Israelites go.

8- Plague of Locust

When Moses and Aaron met with Pharaoh to discuss the release of the Israelites, Pharaoh stood his ground. Moses warned Pharaoh that Egypt would suffer even more suffering if he persisted in opposing God, but his warning was ignored.

Locusts were sent to Egypt by an East wind as he raised his arms to the heavens. There were so many locusts that the sun was obscured. Insects caused destruction. Moses and Aaron were asked by Pharaoh to stop the plague once more. Moses agreed, and God sent a west wind to drive the locusts away. Pharaoh hardened once again and refused to release the Israelites when God brought about the plague.

9- Plague of Darkness

The fifth plague made Egypt gloomy. Days passed in this darkness. The Egyptians trembled in fright because they could not see any light. The Israelites continued in Goshen because there, the light persisted.

The Pharaoh was compelled to make further concessions by this disaster, but he resisted giving the Israelites total liberty. After they had finished talking, Moses warned Pharaoh that the last plague would be the worst of all. He warned Pharaoh that God would pass over Egypt at midnight and would annihilate both human and animal firstborn. This disease would only affect Israelite children.

10- Plague of the Firstborn

The last plague of the 10 plagues of Egypt.

When midnight came around, every Egyptian firstborn child was murdered, just as Moses had predicted. This also applies to the Pharaoh’s firstborn child. Egypt as a whole was lamenting the loss of its loved ones. The Passover holiday was created out of this.

The Israelites were given permission to depart Israel and take God’s wrath with them that evening when Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron. The Israelites immediately began their flight from Egypt, which they had been preparing for.

In conclusion, we hope that the essay on the 10 plagues of Egypt satisfied your curiosity and provided you with sufficient details.

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