Exodus 8:16

Summary

Yehovah instructs Moses to relay a command to Aaron: to stretch out his staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it becomes gnats throughout the land of Egypt. The verse establishes a chain of speech (Yehovah → Moses → Aaron) and a chain of action leading to a transformation of matter.

Key words

• va-i.Yo.mer ("and he said", H0559) — qal narrative form with the narrative vav, marking the next event in the story sequence; standard verb for introducing divine speech.
• 'e.Mor ("say", H0559) — same root as above but in the imperative, showing Moses is told to transmit a command rather than act himself.
• ne.Teh ("stretch out", H5186) — qal imperative addressed to Aaron (2nd person m.), the first of two actions he must perform.
• Hakh ("strike", H5221) — hiphil (causative) imperative; the causative stem indicates Aaron is made to cause an effect on the dust, not merely touch it.
• ha.Yah ("it will become", H1961) — qal form functioning as a sequential/consecutive perfect, continuing the narrative chain and expressing the resulting change of state ("and it became/will become").

What the text says

The verse is built on a double layer of imperatives embedded in reported speech. Yehovah's word to Moses (va-i.Yo.mer... 'el-Mo.sheh) opens with the narrative vav, the standard device that moves the story forward. Inside this speech, Moses receives his own imperative, 'e.Mor ("say", H0559), which does not command an action but a further speech-act: Moses is to relay words to Aaron. This creates a two-step chain of command (Yehovah → Moses → Aaron) before any physical action occurs.

The instructions to Aaron consist of two imperatives joined by ve- ("and"): ne.Teh ("stretch out", H5186) governing mat.te.kha ("your staff", H4294G, construct + suffix), and Hakh ("strike", H5221) governing 'a.Far ha-'A.retz ("the dust of the earth", H6083 construct + H0776H). The second verb is in the hiphil stem, which in Hebrew typically marks a causative action — Aaron does not merely touch the dust but causes an effect on it through the strike.

The resulting transformation is expressed by ve-ha.Yah le-khi.Nim ("and it will become into gnats"), where ha.Yah (H1961) functions as a sequential form continuing the narrative logic ("strike... and [then] it will become"), followed by the preposition le- marking the resulting state ("into/as gnats", H3654). The phrase be-khol 'E.retz Mitz.Ra.yim ("in all the land of Egypt", H3605 + H0776G + H4714G) closes the verse by specifying the geographic scope of the change.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds a detail not present in the Hebrew word list given: it specifies the gnats (σκνῖφες) appear "among the men and among the four-footed animals" (ἐν τε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἐν τοῖς τετράποσιν), an expansion beyond the Hebrew's simple "in all the land of Egypt." The Vulgate's sciniphes and the Hebrew khi.Nim (H3654, "gnats") are rendered in some translations (RV1909, SBLIBRE) as "piojos" ("lice"), reflecting a difference in how translators have identified the insect referred to by the Hebrew term.