The account of the ninth plague is given in just nine verses and completes the third cycle of three plagues each. As pointed out in the introduction to the plague of gnats at 8:16–19, the account of the third plague in each of the three cycles is short, and there is no record of any warning being given to the Pharaoh before the plague occurs. Consequently only two of the six parts of the basic pattern of the plague accounts are evident here. (See page 162.) It is possible that in the earlier oral