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.
Parallel translations
- WEB The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal.
- 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 the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
- Exod 9:11And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon 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 thereof.
- Luke 10:18And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
- Dan 4:7Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
- Isa 19:12Where 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.
- Isa 47:12–13Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
- Dan 2:10–11The 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 king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
- 2 Tim 3:8–9Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
- Gen 41:8And 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 thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto 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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