What were the ten plagues of Egypt?

The ten plagues were judgments God sent on Egypt through Moses to free Israel from slavery: water turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn (Exodus 7-12).

When Pharaoh refused God's command, "Let my people go" (Exodus 5:1), the LORD sent ten plagues on Egypt, recorded in Exodus 7:14-12:30. They were: (1) the waters of the river turned to blood (Exodus 7:20); (2) frogs covering the land; (3) lice from the dust of the ground; (4) swarms of flies; (5) "a very grievous murrain," a disease on the Egyptians' livestock (Exodus 9:3); (6) boils on people and animals; (7) a devastating hailstorm mixed with fire; (8) locusts that devoured what the hail had left; (9) "a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days" (Exodus 10:22); and (10) the death of the firstborn, when "at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:29). Several patterns stand out. Pharaoh's magicians imitated the first two plagues, but after the lice they admitted, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). Beginning with the flies, God made a distinction between Egypt and the land of Goshen where Israel lived (Exodus 8:22). The plagues were not random disasters but a direct challenge to Egypt's gods, who were believed to rule over the Nile, the land, the sun, and life itself, as God declared: "against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD" (Exodus 12:12). Their purpose was revelation as well as rescue, so that "the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD" (Exodus 7:5). The final plague gave rise to the Passover, when Israel's households were spared by the blood of a lamb on their doorposts, a picture the New Testament sees fulfilled in Christ, "our passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Key Passages

The waters turned to blood

Exodus 7:20

²⁰ And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

Judgment against all the gods of Egypt

Exodus 12:12

¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

The death of the firstborn

Exodus 12:29-30

²⁹ And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. ³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.