Exodus 8:18

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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Pharaoh’s magicians tried to do the same thing with their secret arts, but this time they failed. And the gnats covered everyone, people and animals alike.

Context of Exodus 8:18

16Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” 17They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. 20Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

Exodus 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 7:11Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:
• Exodus 9:11The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.
• Genesis 41:8In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
• Isaiah 19:12Where are your wise men now? Let them show you and make known what the Lord Almighty has planned against Egypt.
• Isaiah 47:12“Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
• Daniel 2:10The astrologers answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer.
• Daniel 4:7When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me.
• Daniel 5:8Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.
• Luke 10:18He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
• 2 Timothy 3:8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

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

• Lice
• Magician
• Plague
• Sorcery

In the dictionaries

• Command
• Division
• Enchantments
• Finger
• Let
• Lice
• Morrow
• Plague
• Swarm
• Divorce in the Old Testament

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