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Moses commands Pharaoh to let God's people go, and after signs and wonders, Pharaoh is still hard-hearted and refuses. So as promised, God sends the first plague upon Egypt, because Pharaoh refused to listen and release the Israelites. At this time in history, Egypt worshipped many gods, and some of the most important to them were what they believed to be the gods associated with the Nile River. This river provided the water which the Egyptians could drink and needed in order to feed crops and survive. By worshipping gods of the Nile River, which they themselves created, they believed that the Nile would continue to provide the water which they needed. Because Pharaoh refused to allow the Israelites to go free and worship God as a free nation, God sent a plague in which the entire Nile River turned to blood. This was to demonstrate that God was supreme. He was the one true God. Their make-believe gods of the Nile could not turn the Nile back to water, even after seven days. Yet, even still, Pharaoh continued to refuse freedom for the Israelites. So God sent the second plague, and the entire land of Egypt is covered in frogs. This time, God was highlighting that he is the one true God, mightier than their make-believe god, named Heket, who portrayed as having a head of a frog. Pharaoh's heart remained stubborn and hard, and thus God sent the third plague of gnats and a fourth plague of flies. The third plague of gnats was a judgment on Set, the god of the desert. The fourth plague, flies, was a judgment on Utachet, the fly god. And the fifth plague, caused all Egyptian livestock to die, is a judgment on the goddess Hathor and the god Apis, who were depicted as cattle. The sixth plague, boils, was a judgment against several gods over health and disease. Sekhmet, Sunu, and Isis. As an example of his grace, God warned Pharaoh to gather the cattle and the crops that remained from all of the plagues and shelter them because a storm was coming. Some of Pharaoh's servants heeded this warning, while many others did not. When the seventh plague came, Hale attacked Nut, the sky goddess, Ossicerus, the crop god of fertility, and Set, the storm god. This hail was unlike any they had ever seen before. It was accompanied by a fire which ran along the ground, and everything left out in the open was devastated by the hail and fire. As with the other plagues, God's people of Israel were miraculously protected and no hail damaged anything in their lands. Yet Pharaoh remained hard-hearted and continued to allow Egypt to suffer under the plagues by refusing to allow the Israelites to go free.