דָּם Dam, Blood - Since Rabbi Eliezer does not considerApo, “His anger” to be a separate derivative for a plague, we will deal with it last.

1. עֶבְרָ֣ה, “Wrath,” (Ps. ibid) - at first when the Egyptians tried to draw water to drink, it turned to blood in their mouths. But when the Israelites and the Egyptians tried to drink water together, the Egyptians were able to drink the water. The plague initially was that the Egyptians could not drink water unless the Israelites were thirsty and drank with them.

2. וָזַ֣עַם “Indignation,” (Ps. Ibid) - If an Egyptian was thirsty and could not find an Israelite to drink with him, he would force the Israelite to do so since Egyptians were used to lording over the Israelites. Therefore, God became “indignant” and caused the Egyptian to drink blood even when the Israelite was drinking water . As a result, the Egyptians had to pay for the water from the Israelites with money (damim).¹⁴⁷ means money but it also means blood! Thus, the Midrash states that the Israelite and the Egyptian would fill their cups together. The Israelite found water in his cup and the Egyptian found blood. The two then went back and filled the cup and the Egyptian said, “We will drink (from the same cup). So that the Egyptian was forced to drink from the same up as the Israelite. But when an Egyptian and an Israelite tried drinking from the cup, implying that they had figured out how to outsmart God. That is why the Egyptian said to the Israelite, “We will drink together as we have done until now.” But when they put their mouths to the cup, the Israelite drank water and the Egyptian, blood. That is what Rabbi Avin said: All the water that the Egyptians drank they had to buy from the Israelites with damim, blood-money. And so the Israelites were enriched.

footnotes: ¹⁴⁷ Damim

3. וְצָרָ֑ה “trouble,” (Ps. Ibid) Scripture states, “and the fish in the Nile will die.” (Ex. 7:18) Most of the Egyptians' lives depended on fish, whether as food or as a livelihood. This is stated in Scripture, “The fishermen shall lament; All who cast lines in the Nile shall mourn…shall languish….The flax workers, too, shall be dismayed, both carders and weavers chagrined” (Is. 19:8-9) This was because their work was to catch and search out fish. And concerning their food, it is written, “We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt…” (Num. 11:5) There were so many fish in Egypt, it seemed like nothing and everyone ate them freely. During this plague the fish all died and the livelihood of the Egyptians was taken from them.

4. מִ֝שְׁלַ֗חַת מַלְאֲכֵ֥י רָעִֽים “A band of deadly messengers” (Ps. Ibid) - This is what is written, “The Nile will stink.” (Ex. 7:18) This was an especially horrible plague, particularly for those who took pleasure in spices and perfumes, which is the way of the promiscuous in which the Egyptians were absorbed. Now the stink rose up from the Nile, overtaking the perfumes and causing them great distress.

5. אַפּ֗ו “Anger” (Ps. ibid) According to Rabbi Akiva, “Anger” is a separate plague, since the blood was throughout the land of Egypt, even in the trees and rocks. (see Ex. 7:19)¹⁴⁸ said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your rod and hold out your arm over the waters of Egypt—its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water—that they may turn to blood; there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”

footnotes: ¹⁴⁸ And HaShem

6. The verse does not sayba’eitz u’va’even (singular), “in the tree and rock.” but ba’eitzim u’va’avanim, “In the trees and rocks,” in the plural to make known that the blood was present wherever people dwelled. This was because all matter is made up of the four basic elements: fire, wind, water and earth so that part of the water that was present in any place turned to blood. In this way their garments became soiled with blood - in particular the prince who wore garments of white linen, as we learn from Joseph, “And he had him dressed in robes of fine linen,” (Gen. 41:42) so that their clothes became disgusting.