Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PLAGUE, an eminently contagious and destructive disease, a virulent typhus accompanied by loathsome eruptions, prevalent in the East from the earliest ages, and still ravaging Egypt even in modern times. Ex 11:1. Besides in this its specific sense, the sacred writers also employ the word to express any terrific and desolating disease, Lev 13:3; 1 Kgs 8:37, or any severe calamity or scourge, Mark 5:29, Num 32:34; Luke 7:21, or as a general term for the judgment of God. Ex 9:14. The judgments of God on Pharaoh are called plagues. V. "plague" is the translation of seven words.