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.
• 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

16So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Raise your staff and strike the ground. The dust will turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’” 17So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded them. When Aaron raised his hand and struck the ground with his staff, gnats infested the entire land, covering the Egyptians and their animals. All the dust in the land of Egypt turned into gnats. 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. 19“This is the finger of God!” the magicians exclaimed to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. He wouldn’t listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. 20Then the Lord told Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand in Pharaoh’s way as he goes down to the river. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can 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 7:11Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic.
• Exodus 9:11Even the magicians were unable to stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and all the Egyptians.
• Genesis 41:8The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.
• Isaiah 19:12Where are your wise counselors, Pharaoh? Let them tell you what God plans, what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is going to do to Egypt.
• Isaiah 47:12“Now use your magical charms! Use the spells you have worked at all these years! Maybe they will do you some good. Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.
• Daniel 2:10The astrologers replied to the king, “No one on earth can tell the king his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer!
• Daniel 4:7When all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers came in, I told them the dream, but they could not tell me what it meant.
• Daniel 5:8But when all the king’s wise men had come in, none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant.
• Luke 10:18“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!
• 2 Timothy 3:8These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith.

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