God’s Word Translation
Exodus 8:18
18The magicians also tried to produce gnats using their magic spells, but they couldn’t do it. The gnats bit people and animals.
Exodus 8:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
- New International Version (NIV)But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere,
- English Standard Version (ESV)The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast.
Context of Exodus 8:18
16Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Hold out your staff and strike the dust on the ground. All over Egypt the dust will turn into gnats.’ ” 17When Moses told him, Aaron held out the staff in his hand and struck the dust on the ground. It turned into gnats that bit people and animals. All the dust on the ground everywhere in Egypt turned into gnats. The magicians also tried to produce gnats using their magic spells, but they couldn’t do it. The gnats bit people and animals. 19So the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the hand of God!” Yet, Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had predicted. 20Then the Lord said to Moses, “Early in the morning, stand in Pharaoh’s way when he’s going to the Nile. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to worship me.
Read all of Exodus 8Exodus 8:18 word by word
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ־כֵ֨ן הַחַרְטֻמִּ֧ים בְּלָטֵיהֶ֛ם לְהוֹצִ֥יא אֶת־הַכִּנִּ֖ים וְלֹ֣א יָכֹ֑לוּ וַתְּהִי֙ הַכִּנָּ֔ם בָּאָדָ֖ם וּבַבְּהֵמָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And the magiciansחַרְטֹםcharţôm · magicianH2748
- didעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
- so with their enchantmentsלָטlâţ · secrecyH3909
- to bring forthיָצָאyâtsâ' · to come out: issueH3318
- liceכֵּןkên · gnatH3654
- but they couldיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
- upon manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
- and upon beastבְּהֵמָהbehêmâh · animalH929
Cross-references for Exodus 8:18
- Exodus 7:11Then Pharaoh sent for his wise men and sorcerers. These Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells.
- Exodus 9:11The magicians couldn’t compete with Moses because they had boils like all the other Egyptians.
- Genesis 41:8In the morning he was so upset that he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could tell him what they meant.
- Isaiah 19:12Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you. Let them explain what the Lord of Armies is planning against Egypt.
- Isaiah 47:12Keep practicing your spells and your evil magic. You have practiced them ever since you were young. You may succeed. You may cause terror.
- Daniel 2:10The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can tell the king what he asks. No other king, no matter how great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, psychic, or astrologer.
- Daniel 4:7The magicians, psychics, astrologers, and fortunetellers came to me. I told them the dream, but they couldn’t tell me its meaning.
- Daniel 5:8All the king’s wise advisers came, but they couldn’t read the writing or tell the king its meaning.
- Luke 10:18Jesus said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
- 2 Timothy 3:8As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men oppose the truth. Their minds are corrupt, and the faith they teach is counterfeit.
Commentaries on Exodus 8:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18The magicians did so - That is, They tried the utmost of their skill, either to produce these insects or to remove this plague; but they could not, no juggling could avail here, because insects must be produced which would stick to and infix themselves in man and beast, which no kind of trick could possibly imitate; and to remove them, as some would translate the passage, was to their power equally impossible. If the magicians even acted by spiritual…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 16-19Verses 16-19 These lice were produced out of the dust of the earth; out of any part of the creation God can fetch a scourge, with which to correct those who rebel against him. Even the dust of the earth obeys him. These lice were very troublesome, as well as disgraceful to the Egyptians, whose priests were obliged to take much pains that no vermin ever should be found about them. All the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, had reference to their national…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-19The third plague was the plague of gnats. The word translated gnats is very general. Technical Old Testament dictionaries often translate it as vermin. The English term bugs would come close. The whole land was infested with insects of one sort or another.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 16-1916. smite the dust of the land, &c.--Aaron's rod, by the direction of Moses, who was commanded by God, was again raised, and the land was filled with gnats, mosquitoes--that is the proper meaning of the original term. In ordinary circumstances they embitter life in Eastern countries, and therefore the terrible nature of this infliction on Egypt may be imagined when no precautions could preserve from their painful sting. The very smallness and…Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 8:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Exodus 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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