After the first two conflicts with Pharaoh, God used ten plagues to punish the Egyptians so that they might release His people, and to educate both the Egyptians and His people concerning the nature of the life in the world that they might be willing to forsake the worldly life. The ten plagues can be grouped into four categories. The first group includes the plagues of blood, frogs, and lice (Exo. 7:15-25; 8:1-19); the second group, the plagues of flies, pestilence, and boils (Exo. 8:20-32; 9:1-12); the third group, the plagues of hail, locusts, and darkness (Exo. 9:13-35; 10:1-29); and the fourth group, the plague of the killing of the firstborn (Exo. 11:1-10; 12:29-30). The plagues in the first group were troublesome but not injurious; the plagues in the second group caused harm both to beasts and to men; the plagues in the third group destroyed the environment; and the last plague terminated the worldly life. By means of the ten plagues God was able to accomplish the exodus of His chosen people from Egypt and fully expose the nature and result of the life in the world (cf. Rev. 16:1-21).