a horoscopist (as drawing magical lines or circles) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
did
וַיַּעֲשׂוּvai.ya.'a.su-
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
enchantments
בְּלָטֵיהֶ֛םbe.la.tei.Hem
H3909
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
forth
לְהוֹצִ֥יאle.ho.Tzi'
H3318
to go (causatively · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
lice
הַכִּנִּ֖יםha.ki.Nim
H3654
a gnat · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
could
יָכֹ֑לוּya.Kho.lu
H3201
to be able · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
lice
הַכִּנָּ֔םha.ki.Nam
H3654
a gnat · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
בָּאָדָ֖םba.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
beast
וּבַבְּהֵמָֽהu.va.be.he.Mah
H929
properly · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
Exodus 9:11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.
Daniel 5:8 Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.
Genesis 41:8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men…
Isaiah 19:12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
Isaiah 47:12-13 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt b…
Daniel 2:10-11 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no k…
Daniel 4:7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make kno…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 8:16-19
Here is a short account of the plague of lice. It does not appear that any warning was given of it before. Pharaoh's abuse of the respite granted to him might have been a sufficient warning to him to expect another plague: for if the removal of an affliction harden us, and so we lose the benefit of it, we may conclude it goes away with a purpose to return or to make room for a worse. Observe,
I. How this plague of lice was inflicted on the Egyptians, Exo 8:16, Exo 8:17. The frogs were produced out of the waters, but these live out of the dust of the earth; for out of any part of the creation God can fetch a scourge, with which to correct those that rebel against him. He has many arrows in hi…
PLAGUE OF LICE. (Exo 8:16-19)
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 insignificance of these fierce insects made them a dreadful scourge. The magicians never attempted any imitation, and what neither the blood of the river nor the nuisance of the frogs had done, the visitation of this tiny enem…
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.
The Church Fathers
After these plagues, gnats are brought forth. This animal flies through the air suspended on wings. But it is so subtle and minute that it escapes being seen by the eye unless one looks closely. But when it lands on the body it drills in with a sharp sting. If anyone cannot see it flying, he still feels its sting immediately.This sort of animal can be compared with the subtlety of heretics, who drill into souls with the subtle stings of their words. They attack with such cunning that one who is deceived neither sees nor understands the source of his deception. At the third sign the magicians yielded and said, "The finger of God is here." Those magicians stand for heretics and their animosity. The apostle states this when he says, "Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so too these men resisted the truth. They are corrupt in mind and reprobate in matters of faith. But they will not advance any further. Their madness will be manifested to everyone, just as Jannes' and Jambres' was." The minds of the Egyptian magicians were disquieted by their own corruption, and their power failed at the third sign. They confessed that the Holy Spirit was against them, for the Spirit was in Moses. The Holy Spirit is put in the third place, and he is the finger of God. Thus the magicians failed at the third sign and said, "The finger of God is here." The Holy Spirit, well disposed and favorable, gives rest to the meek and humble of heart but, when he is opposed, stirs up disquiet against the merciless and the proud. Those tiny gnats signified this disquiet, at which Pharaoh's magicians failed and said, "The finger of God is here."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Enchantments — (1.) The rendering of Hebrew latim_ or _lehatim, which means “something covered,” “muffled up;” secret arts, tricks (Ex. 7:11, 22; 8:7, 18), by which the Egyptian magicians imposed on the credulity…
Lice — (Heb. kinnim), the creatures employed in the third plague sent upon Egypt (Ex. 8:16-18). They were miraculously produced from the dust of the land. “The entomologists Kirby and Spence place these…
Magic, Magicians — Magic is “the science or practice of evoking spirits, or educing the occult powers of nature to produce effects apparently supernatural.” It formed an essential element in many ancient religions,…
Nadab — Liberal, generous. (1.) The eldest of Aaron’s four sons (Ex. 6:23; Num. 3:2). He with his brothers and their father were consecrated as priests of Jehovah (Ex. 28:1). He afterwards perished with…
Plague — A “stroke” of affliction, or disease. Sent as a divine chastisement (Num. 11:33; 14:37; 16:46-49; 2 Sam. 24:21). Painful afflictions or diseases, (Lev. 13:3, 5, 30; 1 Kings 8:37), or severe calamity…
Plagues, The Ten — The occasion on which the plagues were sent is described in Exod 3-12.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Exodus 8:18
And the magicians did so with their enchantments, to bring forth lice,.... They made use of their magical art, and juggling tricks they were masters of, to produce the like sort of creatures, or at least to make such appear, or seem to appear, to the eyes of men:
but they could not; God would not suffer them to do it, to impose upon Pharaoh, and deceive him and the Egyptians any longer; and a stop is put to them, when such small and despicable creatures were produced, the more to put them to shame and confusion, and to show that what they did before was not real, and that what they did in appearance was only by divine permission:
so there were lice upon man and upon beast; these lay in gre…
Exodus 8:16-19
16. And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
16. Tunc dixit Jehova ad Mosen, Loquere ad Aharon, Extende virgam tuam, et percute pulverem terrae, ut sit in pediculos per totam terram Aegypti.
17. And they did so: for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast: all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
17. Et fecerunt sic: et extendit Aharon manum suam cum virga sua, et percussit pulverem terrae: ut fuit in pediculos in homine et jumento, totus pulvis terrae fui…
"The magicians did so with their enchantments (i.e., smote the dust with rods), to bring forth gnats, but could not." The cause of this inability is hardly to be sought for, as Knobel supposes, in the fact that "the thing to be done in this instance, was to call creatures into existence, and not merely to call forth and change creatures and things in existence already, as in the case of the staff, the water, and the frogs." For after this, they could neither call out the dog-flies, nor protect their own bodies from the boils; to say nothing of the fact, that as gnats proceed from the eggs laid in the dust or earth by the previous generation, their production is not to be regarded as a direct…
The 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.
Rashi on Exodus 8:18
והפליתי means I WILL SEPARATE. Similar is, (Exodus 9:4) “And the Lord will make a separation (והפלה)”; so, also, (Deuteronomy 30:11) “It is not נפלאת from thee״ — that is, “it is not separated and set at a far distance from thee”.
למען תדע כי אני ה׳ בקרב הארץ IN ORDER THAT THOU MAYEST KNOW THAT I AM THE ETERNAL IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH — although My Shechina is in the heavens My command is fulfilled amongst mankind (as we might say, “My writ runs on earth also”).
