Exodus 7:17 contains a phrase that appears, in various forms, at least twelve times across the plague narrative: “in this thou shalt know that I am the LORD.”

The repetition is the literary signal that something architecturally significant is happening.

The plagues accumulate covenant declarations aimed at a specific audience.

Each one is a covenant declaration aimed at a specific audience—sometimes Pharaoh, sometimes his servants, sometimes Egypt as a whole, sometimes Israel itself.

The Great King is making himself known.

In the Hebrew covenant tradition, to know the Great King—yada in its full covenant weight—is to be in relationship with him, to have experienced his power and his hesed directly, to carry the testimony of what he has done as the foundation of covenant loyalty.

The ten plagues are a progressive revelation of the Great King’s identity, power, and covenant claim on both peoples in Egypt: the one he is delivering and the one he is judging.