The Ten Plagues of Egypt For many years, the were slaves in Egypt. They worked tirelessly on the pyramids, aqueducts, and other work projects for the Egyptian pharaoh and his kingdom. According to the Old Testament, , under a direct commandment from God was asked to help free the enslaved Israelites. God gave Moses supernatural powers in order to convince the pharaoh to release ‘God’s people’. Moses used these powers to bring ten horrible plagues onto Egypt and its people. In the first plague, the water of the river and of all the canals and pools of Egypt were turned to blood so that the Egyptians could not drink it, and even all the fish died. The second plague came seven days later when there appeared an immense number of frogs. Pharaoh now promised to let the Israelites go if the frogs were removed, but broke his promise when this was done. The third plague consisted of swarms of gnats (very small bugs) which attacked both men and animals. The fourth plague was a swam of flies. Pharaoh now agreed to allow the Israelites a three days' journey into the desert, but when Moses took the flies away, he failed to keep his promise. The fifth plague led to the death of all the herds of the Egyptians, while sparing the animals of the Israelites. The sixth consisted in sores which broke out both on the bodies of all the Egyptians. The seventh was a fearful snowstorm. The snow destroyed through all the land of Egypt all things that were in the field, both man and beast, only in the land of Gessen, where the Israelites lived was there no snow. The frightened king again promised and again became broke his promise when the storm was stopped. The eighth plague occurred when Moses stretched forth his rod, and a south wind brought innumerable locusts which devoured the crops and animals that the snow had left. The ninth plague was a horrible darkness which for three days covered all Egypt except the land of Gessen (where the Hebrews lived). The tenth and most painful of the plagues was the death in one night of all the first- born of Egypt. The angel of death went to each home in Egypt and killed each first- born child including pharaohs. It knew to the homes of the Israelites who had smeared ’s blood along the doorframe to make sure the angel of death did not enter.

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