The 10 plagues of Egypt
The ten plagues of Egypt, in the order Exodus 7:14 to 12:32 gives them, are water turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn. The text says Pharaoh hardened his own heart three times, in the plagues of frogs, flies and hail. The first time it says the LORD hardened it is Exodus 9:12, with the sixth plague.
Updated October 24, 2026. Verses are quoted from the King James Version, with the World English Bible's wording where it differs. Word counts are of the verses in each passage.
The plagues in order
Each row gives the passage, how long the King James account is, how Moses was sent, what the magicians did, whether the text says Israel was spared, and what the text says about Pharaoh's heart at the end of it.
| # | Plague | Passage | Words | How it begins | Magicians | Israel spared | Pharaoh's heart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Water to blood | Exodus 7:14-25 | 394 | Moses meets Pharaoh at the river in the morning (7:15) | Did the same (7:22) | Not stated | "Was hardened", no one named (7:22) |
| 2 | Frogs | Exodus 8:1-15 | 398 | Moses is sent in to Pharaoh (8:1) | Did the same (8:7) | Not stated | Pharaoh hardened it (8:15) |
| 3 | Lice | Exodus 8:16-19 | 127 | No warning | Could not (8:18) | Not stated | "Was hardened", no one named (8:19) |
| 4 | Flies | Exodus 8:20-32 | 411 | Moses meets Pharaoh at the river in the morning (8:20) | Not mentioned | Yes (8:22) | Pharaoh hardened it (8:32) |
| 5 | Livestock diseaseKJV "murrain", WEB "pestilence" | Exodus 9:1-7 | 187 | Moses is sent in to Pharaoh (9:1) | Not mentioned | Yes (9:4) | "Was hardened", no one named (9:7) |
| 6 | Boils | Exodus 9:8-12 | 140 | No warning | Could not (9:11) | Not stated | The LORD hardened it (9:12) |
| 7 | Hail | Exodus 9:13-35 | 655 | Moses meets Pharaoh at the river in the morning (9:13) | Not mentioned | Yes (9:26) | Pharaoh hardened it (9:34) |
| 8 | Locusts | Exodus 10:1-20 | 676 | Moses is sent in to Pharaoh (10:1) | Not mentioned | Not stated | The LORD hardened it (10:20) |
| 9 | Darkness | Exodus 10:21-29 | 223 | No warning | Not mentioned | Yes (10:23) | The LORD hardened it (10:27) |
| 10 | Death of the firstborn | Exodus 11:1-10; 12:29-32 | 461 | Announced before Moses leaves Pharaoh (11:4) | Not mentioned | Yes (11:7) | The LORD hardened it (11:10) |
The KJV and WEB use the same names except for the fifth plague, which the King James calls a "murrain" and the World English Bible a "pestilence" (Exodus 9:3). The last plague is told in two places: the warning in Exodus 11:1-10 and the event in Exodus 12:29-32, so its word count adds both. The Passover instructions in between (Exodus 12:1-28) are not counted.
How long each account is
Locusts has the longest account at 676 words and lice the shortest at 127.
The ten accounts total 3,672 King James words. Hail and locusts take 1,331 of them, 36%, because Pharaoh bargains with Moses in both. The three plagues with no warning (lice, boils and darkness) are short.
Three sets of three, then the last
By the verses, the first nine split into three sets by how Moses is sent. In plagues 1, 4 and 7 he meets Pharaoh at the river in the morning (Exodus 7:15, 8:20, 9:13). In plagues 2, 5 and 8 he is told to go in to Pharaoh (Exodus 8:1, 9:1, 10:1). Plagues 3, 6, and 9, lice, boils and darkness, come with no warning. The tenth stands apart: it is announced as "one plague more" (Exodus 11:1) and strikes at midnight.
The text also separates Israel from Egypt from the fourth plague on. Israel is spared in plagues 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10. The magicians go from matching Moses in the first two plagues (1 and 2) to failing at the lice (3) and then to standing helpless in the boils (6).
Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?
18 verses in Exodus 4 to 14 speak of Pharaoh's heart being hardened. They split three for Pharaoh, six for the LORD as a past event, three as a promise and six with no one named.
Pharaoh hardens his own heart (3)
Exodus 8:15, 8:32, 9:34: the frogs, the flies and the hail. In each case Pharaoh sees relief and goes back on his word.
The LORD hardens it (6)
Exodus 9:12, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:8: the boils, the locusts (10:1 before them and 10:20 after), the darkness, the last plague and the pursuit at the sea.
The LORD says he will (3)
Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 14:4: before Moses goes to Egypt, before the signs begin, and before the crossing. Exodus 14:17 is left out of the counts because it says the LORD will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, not Pharaoh's.
"Was hardened," no one named (6)
Exodus 7:13, 7:14, 7:22, 8:19, 9:7, 9:35: the blood, the lice, the livestock, and after the hail. The King James Version of 7:13 reads "he hardened Pharaoh's heart" without saying who "he" is.
Read in order, the verses follow a pattern. The LORD promises it twice before the first plague (4:21, 7:3). Pharaoh is the one who hardens his heart in the second, fourth and seventh plagues. The first verse that names the LORD as the one who hardened it is in the sixth, and after the hail (9:34) every verse that names who did it says the LORD (10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:8). Readers disagree about what this means for Pharaoh's choice, and the verses above are the evidence both sides cite.
Where the text is silent
The columns say "not mentioned" or "not stated" when the passage does not speak to that point, which does not mean it did not happen. The three sets of three are a reading of how Moses is sent in each passage, and other lists of the plagues group them differently. The word counts include everything in the verses, such as speeches and instructions, not only the plague itself.
Questions about the ten plagues
What are the 10 plagues of Egypt in order?
1. Water to blood; 2. Frogs; 3. Lice; 4. Flies; 5. Livestock disease; 6. Boils; 7. Hail; 8. Locusts; 9. Darkness; 10. Death of the firstborn. Exodus 7:14 begins the first and Exodus 12:29 records the last.
Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?
The text gives both answers. Pharaoh hardens his own heart in Exodus 8:15, Exodus 8:32, and Exodus 9:34. The LORD hardens it in Exodus 9:12, Exodus 10:1, Exodus 10:20, Exodus 10:27, Exodus 11:10, and Exodus 14:8, and he says he will in Exodus 4:21, Exodus 7:3, and Exodus 14:4. In six more verses the heart "was hardened" with no one named as the cause.
Which plagues did the Egyptian magicians copy?
The magicians copied the first two, blood (Exodus 7:22) and frogs (Exodus 8:7). With the lice they "could not" (Exodus 8:18), and by the boils they "could not stand before Moses" (Exodus 9:11).
Which plagues did the Israelites not suffer?
The text says Israel was spared in plagues 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10: flies (Exodus 8:22), livestock (9:4), hail (9:26), darkness (10:23) and the firstborn (11:7). For blood, frogs, lice, boils and locusts it does not say either way.
Does the Bible call them the ten plagues?
Not in those words. "Plague" appears in only 3 verses of Exodus 7 to 12 (9:14, 11:1, 12:13); "signs" or "wonders" appears in 6 verses of those chapters. Exodus 11:1 calls the last "one plague more", but no verse in Exodus 7 to 12 numbers the plagues as ten.
Why did God send the plagues?
Exodus 12:12 gives one reason in the text: "against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD". Exodus 9:14 gives another, "that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth".
Sources
- The King James Version (1769) and the World English Bible, both public domain: every verse and count on this page, read by scripts/build-bible-lists.mjs from the text at github.com/seven1m/open-bibles (read and counted 2026-10-24).
Count the words yourself on blood, darkness and plague. See the twelve tribes of Israel, the book of Exodus, how many times Moses is mentioned, and the Bible by the numbers.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-24.