Plagues of Egypt

The Plagues of Egypt (Hebrew: מכות מצרים, Makot Mitzrayim), also called the Ten Plagues (Hebrew: עשר: המכות, Eser Ha-Makot) or the Biblical Plagues, were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, Israel's God, Yahweh, inflicted upon Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth plague, triggering the Exodus of the Jewish people. The plagues were designed to contrast the power of Yahweh with the impotence of Egypt's various gods. Some commentators have associated several of the plagues with judgment on specific gods associated with the Nile, fertility and natural phenomena. The plagues of Egypt are also mentioned in the Quran (7,133–136). According to the Book of Exodus, God proclaims that all the gods of Egypt will be judged through the tenth and final plague:

On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals —and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD
— Exodus 12:12 (New International Version)

Read more about Plagues Of Egypt:  Biblical Narrative, Context, Plagues, Scholarly Interpretation, Historicity, Artistic Representation

Famous quotes containing the words plagues of, plagues and/or egypt:

    There they are at last, Miss Rutledge. The will-o-the-wisps with plagues of fortune. San Francisco, the latest newborn of a great republic.
    Ben Hecht (1893–1964)

    I don’t believe in evil, I believe only in horror. In nature there is no evil, only an abundance of horror: the plagues and the blights and the ants and the maggots.
    Isak Dinesen [Karen Blixen] (1885–1962)

    The great pagan world of which Egypt and Greece were the last living terms ... once had a vast and perhaps perfect science of its own, a science in terms of life. In our era this science crumbled into magic and charlatanry. But even wisdom crumbles.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)