The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal.
Parallel Translations
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The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal.
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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.
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(8-14) And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; and there were gnats upon man, and upon beast.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Exodus 8:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.
- Exodus 9:11 The magicians couldn’t stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
- Daniel 5:8 Then all the king’s wise men came in; but they could not read the writing, and couldn’t make known to the king the interpretation.
- Genesis 41:8 In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
- Isaiah 19:12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt.
- Isaiah 47:12-13 “Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
- Daniel 2:10-11 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, “There is not a man on the earth who can show the king’s matter, because no king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean. It is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is no other who can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”
- Daniel 4:7 Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in; and I told the dream before them; but they didn’t make known to me its interpretation.
- Luke 10:18 He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.
- 2 Timothy 3:8-9 Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected. But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain God confounded their wisdom and authority in a thing…
God confounded their wisdom and authority in a thing most vile.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 8:18 And the magicians did so with their…
Exo 8:18 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.
Ver. 18. But they could not.] Though they endeavoured it, as did the magician of Antwerp, who, being required by the English merchants there to play his feats and show his cunning, after much sweating and toil, when he saw that nothing could go forward, but that all his enchantments were void, was compelled openly to confess that there was some man there at supper which disturbed and hindered all his doings. This was Mr Tyndale the martyr, who, hearing of this magician, had desired certain of the merchants that he might be present to see him play, {a} &c.
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{a} Act. and Mon., fol. 985.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Did so, i.e. endeavoured to do so. Thus to…
Did so, i.e. endeavoured to do so. Thus to enter, Mat 7:13, is put for striving to enter, Luk 13:24. Thus men are said to deliver, Gen 37:21; to fight, Jos 24:9; to return, Jos 10:15; when they only attempted or endeavoured to do so. And therefore when it is said in any of the plagues that the magicians did so, it is not to be understood that they really did the same thing, but that they endeavoured to do so, and that they did something which looked like it.
It was as easy for them to produce lice as frogs, but God hindered them, partly to confound them and their devilish arts, and to show that what they did before was only by his permission; and partly to convince Pharaoh and the Egyptians of their vanity in trusting to such impotent magicians, and in opposing that God who could control and confound them when he pleased.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the…
Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God,.... This is to be ascribed to a power superior to human, to a divine power; so long as they could do something similar, or impose upon the senses of men, and make them believe they did the like, they would not acknowledge divine omnipotence; but when they no longer could deceive the sight of Pharaoh and the Egyptian, then they own the effects of a superior power: and this they did partly to detract from the power of Moses and Aaron, because they would not have them pass for more skilful persons in the magic art than themselves; and therefore suggest, that this was done not by virtue of any human skill and art, but by the power of the Supreme Being; and partly to detract from the honour of the God of Israel; for they do not say this is the finger of Jehovah, whom they accounted, as Dr. Lightfoot (g) observes, as a petty trivial god, but this is the finger of Elohim, the Supreme Deity. It is conjectured by some (h), that in memory of this plague the Egyptian priests scrape their whole bodies, lest there should be a louse or any unclean thing on them when they worship their gods, as Herodotus (i) relates:
and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; either not unto the magicians owning the hand of God, and his divine power in the plague inflicted; or to Moses and Aaron demanding the dismission of the people of Israel, which latter seems to be confirmed by the usual phrase, as follows:
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as the Lord had said; see Exo 7:4.
(g) Ut supra. (Works, vol. 1. p. 705, 706.) (h) Vid. Scheuchzer. Physica Sacra, vol. 1. p. 132. (i) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 37.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And the magicians did so - That is, endeavoured…
And the magicians did so - That is, endeavoured to do so.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. The magicians did so] That is, They…
Verse 18. The 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 agents, we find from this case that these agents had assigned limits, beyond which they could not go; for every agent in the universe is acting under the direction or control of the Almighty.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 8:18. The magicians did so — They also…
Exo 8:18. The magicians did so — They also smote the dust of the earth to bring forth lice with their enchantments, but they could not — Some have said that this verse is not accurately translated, and that the true sense of it is, that the magicians endeavoured not to bring forth, but to draw off, or take away, the lice. But surely they have affirmed this without having examined the original. The words להוציא את הכנים, Lehoatsi eth hachinnim, signify to bring forth the lice, and not to take them away. Nor is the word εξαγαγειν, used by the LXX., at all inimical to this construction, signifying properly to bring out, or bring forth. So that the thing asserted, as commentators have generally understood, is, that the magicians could not produce lice, as they had frogs, much less could they take away those that God, by Moses, had produced. Now, as it surely was as easy to produce lice as frogs, from this it appeared by what power they had done the other two miracles; not by any virtue that was in their enchantments, but by a supernatural power which God had permitted Satan to give them, but the further operation of which he now thought proper to prevent, to show them that all their power, to whatever cause they might attribute it, was limited, and not to be compared with that of the God of Israel.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Practiced, fecerunt; the same expression as ver. 7: whence…
Practiced, fecerunt; the same expression as ver. 7: whence some argue, that the former were delusions, not real changes. (Haydock) --- God was pleased to shew here the vanity of their attempts, and the imbecility of the devil, who could not even bring a single animalcule or insect, though he had before appeared to work great wonders. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. But they could not — Here the magicians…
18. But they could not — Here the magicians are baffled, and they can imitate these signs no further. In this the gradual advance is to be noted, and also in the fact that the stroke is much more severe. The Egyptians could keep away from the bloody river; the frogs came upon their tables and beds; but the loathsome lice feasted on their bodies.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 18. This wonder the magicians (v. 7) were unable…
18. This wonder the magicians (v. 7) were unable to imitate.
to bring forth] viz. from the earth.
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19 This is the finger of God] i.e. the finger, or hand, of God is discernible here. The expression (though not in the same application), also, Exo_31:18, Deu_9:10, Luk_11:20, and in the plural, Psa_8:3.
The mosquito is so well known as a plague in Egypt, that it will not be necessary to add anything to what has been said about it on v. 16. The ‘gnats’ described here, however, differ from the mosquito in being produced, not from water, but from the dust; and also in their appearing miraculously, like the frogs, at a signal given by Aaron.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (18) The magicians did so—i.e., tried to do so—took…
(18) The magicians did so—i.e., tried to do so—took moist earth, and dried it, and pulverised it, and tried the effect of their magic charms upon it, but. failed to produce mosquitoes, as Aaron had done. Mosquitoes were things too delicate to be caught, and manipulated, and produced at a given moment by sleight-of-hand. The magicians tried to produce a counterfeit of the miracle, but could not. Then they excused themselves to their master with the words, “This is the finger of a god.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The magicians did so with their enchantments. The magicians…
The magicians did so with their enchantments. The magicians stretched out their rods over certain collections of dust, but no gnats were produced; which would be the natural result, if they had made no secret arrangements. No reason can be assigned why they should not have seemed to produce gnats, as easily as frogs, if they had employed all the arts of which they were masters in so doing. But events had convinced them that they could not cope with Moses and Aaron; and it would seem that they therefore declined further contest,
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This is the finger of God
This is the finger of God
The words "finger of God" represent the power of God. AT: "This is the powerful work of God" (See: Metonymy)
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Pharaoh's heart was hardened
Here "heart" refers to Pharaoh. See how you translated this in Exodus 7:13. AT: "Pharaoh became more defiant" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
translationWords
magic
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.