What are the ten Passover plagues? When Pharaoh refused Moses’ plea to free the Jewish slaves, God brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians. Here’s the story.
The Lord came to Moses and told him to go to Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. He told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let Moses’ people go. When Moses objected because he was a lowly shepherd, the Lord told Moses that he would give signs to Pharaoh that he should let the Jews go.
Moses did as he was told, went to Pharaoh, and told him to the let the Jews go. However, Pharaoh refused. Moses threw his staff into the ground and it turned into a snake. Pharaoh still refused. The Lord began inflicting plagues on the land of Egypt.
The Plague of Blood
The first plague was that the Nile river turned into blood when Moses touched it with his staff.
The Plague of Frogs
The second plague was a tremendous number of frogs inundating the land. After each plague, Pharoah still refused to let the Jews go.
The next plague was lice. The fourth plague was beasts, which may have been flying insects such as gnats. Still, Pharaoh refused. The fifth plague was cattle disease that killed only the Egyptian cattle. Now Pharaoh came to his senses and let the Jews go. But, alas, he changed his mind before they could depart.
The Plague of Boils
The sixth plague was boils, which again only affected the Egyptians, not the Jews. Again he let the Jews go, only to change his mind before they could actually leave. The seventh plague was a hail storm that only affected the Egyptian’s crops. Again, Pharaoh let them go and changed his mind before they could leave.
The Plague of Locusts
The eighth plague was a swarm of locusts affecting only the Egyptian crops. The ninth plague was three days of darkness that only affected the Egyptians, not the Jews. After the eighth and ninth plagues, again Pharaoh let the Jews go and changed his mind. Finally, after the tenth plague in which the Lord killed all of the Egyptian first born, including Pharoah’s son, Pharoah let the Jews go.
They did not take time to bake leavened bread for their journey. Instead, they had unleavened bread. After they left, Pharaoh chased after them. But, they escaped when Moses parted the Red Sea.
During the Passover Seder, a list of the ten plagues is recited. With each plague, participants take a knife and place a drop of wine from their glass on their plates to slightly reduce their enjoyment due to the suffering of the Egyptians from the plagues.