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The Ten Plagues of Egypt

Some critics of the Bible claim that Egyptologists have found no record of the Hebrew people in Egypt or the ten
plagues as described in the book of Exodus.

The Ipuwer Papyrus is an ancient document that provides a possible independent record of the ten plagues in
Egypt. It describes a great disaster that took place in ancient Egypt. The oldest copy dates to around 1400 BC,
placing it close to the time of the Exodus (circa 1446 BC). The Ipuwer Papyrus is the sole surviving manuscript of an
ancient Egyptian poem o cially designated as Papyrus Leiden I-344 and resides at the Dutch National Museum of
Antiquities, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.

We shall now compare the Bible’s account of the plagues with the relevant parts of the Ipuwer Papyrus.

The rst plague (turning the Nile to blood) (Exodus 7:1-7). The Ipuwer Papyrus says, “Plague is throughout the
land. Blood is everywhere” (2:5–6). “The river is blood. . . . Men shrink from tasting—human beings, and thirst
after water” (2:10). “That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin”
(3:10–13).

The fth plague (the death of livestock) (Exodus 9:1-7). The Ipuwer Papyrus says, “All animals, their hearts weep.
Cattle moan” (5:5). “Behold, cattle are left to stray, and there is none to gather them together” (9:2–3).

The seventh plague (hail and re as recorded in Exodus 9:35). The Ipuwer Papyrus says, “Forsooth, gates, columns
and walls are consumed by re” (2:10). “Lower Egypt weeps. . . . The entire palace is without its revenues. To it
belong [by right] wheat and barley, geese and sh” (10:3–6). “Forsooth, grain has perished on every side” (6:3).
“Forsooth, that has perished which was yesterday seen. The land is left over to its weariness like the cutting of ax”
(5:12).

The ninth plague (darkness recorded in Exodus 10:22-23). The Ipuwer Papyrus says, “The land is without light”
(9:11).

The tenth and last plague (the death of rstborn males in Exodus 12:23). The Ipuwer Papyrus says, “Forsooth, the
children of princes are dashed against the walls” (4:3 and 5:6). “Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out in the
streets” (6:12). “He who places his brother in the ground is everywhere” (2:13). “It is groaning throughout the land,
mingled with lamentations” (3:14).

The Ipuwer Papyrus also contains a possible reference to the Hebrews’ departure from Egypt, laden with treasures:
“Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze . . . are fastened on the neck of female slaves”
(3:2; cf. Exodus 12:35–38). Further, there is a possible description of the pillar of re: “Behold, the re has mounted
up on high. Its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land” (7:1; cf. Exodus 13:20–22).

Egyptologist David Rohl, who doesn’t claim to be a Christian, has written two books on how biblical accounts
relating to Egypt, Joseph, and Moses are astonishingly accurate. He believes Joseph and Moses were historic
characters and cites Bronze Age slave lists containing Hebrew names, the grave goods of an underclass discovered
at Avaris (the biblical Goshen), and Egyptian “plague pits” full of skeletal remains.

While the Bible does not need con rmation from secular historians, and Christians do not require extra-biblical
accounts in order to believe the Bible, it is interesting that independent records of biblical events exist—records
with remarkable parallels to the biblical accounts.