Genesis 12:17

plagued … with great plagues The words in the original run: "and Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great strokes, and his house." The words "and his house" have all the appearance of being a later explanatory addition. The "great strokes" or "plagues" must have been some kind of epidemic (cf. Gen 20:17; 1 Chronicles 16:21; Psalms 105:14), the cause of which could not be understood. Pharaoh and his house are guiltless; Abram and Sarai are deceitful and cowardly; Jehovah smites the Egyptian, in order to protect the patriarch and his wife. This representation of the Deity illustrates the immature stage of religious development presented by some of the early Israelite traditions.