The Art of the Ten Plagues Rabbi Scott N. Bolton, Congregation Or Zarua (Copy)

The First Plague: Water Is Changed into Blood

(דָם)

Ex. 7:14–24

This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hands I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink and the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.

James Tissot

The Second Plague: Frogs

(צְּפַרְדֵּעַ): Ex. 7:25–8:15

The Second Plague: And Aaron stretched out his hand over the Waters of Egypt and the Frogs came up and covered the Sand of Egypt etching

This is what the great LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.— Exodus 8:1–4

The Third Plague: Lice

Lice (כִּנִּים): Ex. 8:16-19

"And the LORD said [...] Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt." […] When Aaron stretched out his hand with the rod and struck the dust of the ground, lice came upon men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became lice. — Exodus 8:16–17

The Hebrew noun כִּנִּים (kinim) could be translated as lice, gnats, or fleas.

The Fourth Plague: Wild Swarms

(עָרוֹב): Ex. 8:20-32

The word ‘arob has caused a difference of opinion among traditional interpreters.The root meaning is (ע.ר.ב), meaning a mixture - implying a diversity, array, or assortment of harmful animals. While Jewish interpreters understand the plague as "wild animals" (most likely scorpions, venomous snakes, and other venomous arthropods and reptiles), Gesenius along with many Christian interpreters understand the plague as a swarm of flies.

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Disease

(דֶּבֶר)

This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 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 and donkeys and camels and on your cattle and sheep and goats. (Ex. 9:12-3),

The Sixth Plague: Boils

(שְׁחִין): Ex. 9:8–12

Then the LORD said to 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 men and animals throughout the land." — Exodus 9:8–9

The Seventh Plague: Hail

(בָּרָד): Ex. 9:13–35

This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or 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. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. Therefore, at this time tomorrow 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 man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die. […] The LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt; hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. — Exodus 9:13–24

The Eighth Plague: The Plague of Locusts

(אַרְבֶּה):

This is what the LORD, the God of the Jews, says: '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. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now. — Exodus 10:3–6

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

(חוֹשֶך):

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt." So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days.

— Exodus 10:21–23

Moses: Plague of Firstborn.

(מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת)

This is what the LORD says: "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 of the slave girl, 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."

— Exodus 11:4–6

Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt by Charles Sprague Pearce (1877), Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Moses: Plagues of Flies, Frogs, Locusts, Hail and Pestilence. Stuttgart Psalter, c. 820-830. Stuttgart Landesbibliothek, Bibl.fol.23, fol. 93r. Photograph by Gabriel Millet.