The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB The magicians tried to produce gnats using their magic arts, but they could not. And the gnats remained on man and beast.
- 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.
- NASB The soothsayer priests tried with their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on every person and animal.
- 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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The magicians try but cannot reproduce the gnats. For the first time Egypt's powers fail completely.
Overview
The sorcerers attempt to imitate this plague and fail, marking a decisive limit to the counterfeit powers that had rivaled Moses. Their inability exposes the boundary of all opposition to God: it can go only so far before God's superiority is undeniable. This failure foreshadows the certain defeat of every power that sets itself against the Lord, whose authority none can finally withstand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Exod 7:11Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.
- Exod 9:11The magicians couldn’t stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians, and on all the Egyptians.
- Dan 5:8Then came in all the king’s wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation.
- Luke 10:18He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.
- Dan 4:7Then came in the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers; and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known to me its interpretation.
- Isa 19:12Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt.
- Isa 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.
- Dan 2:10–11The 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.
- 2 Tim 3:8–9Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith, are rejected.
- Gen 41:8In 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.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 8:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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