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The Ten Plagues of Egypt refer to events described in the Biblical book of Exodus (7 - 12) in which ten different cataclysms were visited upon the nation of Egypt by God on behalf of the enslaved nation of Israel. The ten plagues, as they appear in the book of Exodus, are:

1) The Nile river turned to blood (Exodus 7:14 - 21);
2) An inundation of frogs (Exodus 8:1 - 6);

3) A swarm of gnats (Exodus 8:16 - 19);
4) An infestation of 'insects' (occasionally rendered as 'animals: Exodus 8:20 - 24);
5) The death of all Egyptian livestock (Exodus 9:1 - 6);
6) Boils and sores on all Egyptian people and animals (Exodus 9:8 - 12);
7) A hailstorm (Exodus 9:22 - 26);
8) An infestation of locusts (Exodus 10:12 - 15);
9) Darkness over the land (10:21 - 23);
10) The death of every firstborn of a home unmarked by the blood of a lamb (11:1ff, 12:29 - 30);

Historical and textual concerns surround the story of the ten plagues as documented in the book of Exodus. Historically, the story of the ten plagues is unsubstantiated outside the Biblical book of Exodus, a fact that has led many scholars away from a literalist approach when reading and studying the book of Exodus. While some scholars speculate that natural occurrences created the phenomenon of the ten plagues and others hold to the traditional supernatural literalist interpretation, the majority of scholarship consulted on the issue understands the events described as a mythological device.

Textually, the traditional idea of Mosaic authorship of the book of Exodus has largely been abandoned in favor of the four-school JEDP theory, with the J, E and P schools having been thought to have contributed to the story of the ten plagues. One theory proposes that the third and sixth plagues (from the Priestly source) are a repetition of the fourth and fifth plagues (from the Jahwist and Elohist sources). Additionally, a different tone exists between the Jahwist and Elohist sources; while the Elohist source tends towards a supernatural manifestation of the plagues through the direct intervention and command of God, the Jahwist source leans towards a naturalistic explanation of the plagues, wherein the plagues simply happen and Moses prays for their cessation. However, both renditions are understood to have had a common source, and quite naturally, a common final redactor.

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