What were the ten plagues of Egypt?

Why there were plagues at all

Moses and Aaron walk into Pharaoh’s court with one demand from God: let my people go. Pharaoh’s answer sets up everything that follows.

Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.

He even makes the slaves’ work harder: no more straw for the bricks, but the same number of bricks. The plagues are God’s answer to that question, “Who is Yahweh?”

The ten plagues, in order

1. Blood. Moses strikes the Nile, the water turns to blood, the fish die and the river stinks (Exodus 7:14–24).
2. Frogs. They swarm out of the river into ovens and beds (8:1–15).
3. Lice. Dust becomes lice, and Pharaoh’s magicians can’t copy it: “This is God’s finger” (8:16–19).
4. Flies. Swarms fill Egypt’s houses, but none land in Goshen, where the Hebrews live (8:20–32).
5. Livestock. Disease kills Egypt’s animals, and not one Israelite animal dies (9:1–7).
6. Boils. Sores break out on people and animals (9:8–12).
7. Hail. Hail falls such as Egypt has never seen, with lightning flashing down to the ground (9:13–35).
8. Locusts. An east wind brings them until nothing green is left (10:1–20).
9. Darkness. Three days of darkness so thick it can be felt, while the Israelites have light at home (10:21–29).
10. The firstborn. At midnight every firstborn in Egypt dies, “from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon” (11:1–12:30).

Pharaoh’s hard heart

After each plague Pharaoh bargains. Go, but not far. Go, but leave the children. Go, but leave the flocks. Every time a plague lifts, he takes it back. His own officials beg him to give in. The text says it both ways: Pharaoh hardens his heart, and God hardens it. Readers still argue about what that means.

The night that became Passover

Before the last plague, each Hebrew household kills a lamb, paints its blood on the doorposts and eats it roasted, with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, sandals on and staff in hand.

The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

That night Pharaoh summons Moses and tells him to go. Israel leaves in such a hurry that the dough has no time to rise, marching from Rameses to Succoth. Jews retell this night at every Passover, and the ten plagues are still recited at the Seder table.

Did it happen?

Exodus never names its Pharaoh, so the date is debated. Counting back from Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:1) gives about 1446 BC. The city of Raamses points to Pi-Ramesses, the great city of Ramesses II, around 1250 BC. No Egyptian record mentions the plagues, and historians still argue about how much of the story is history and how much is memory shaped by faith.