Exodus 8:18

Summary

The Egyptian magicians attempt to replicate the plague of gnats using their own enchantments but fail. The text emphasizes their inability to produce the gnats, which remain on both humans and livestock.

Key words

• chartummim ("magicians", H2748) — masculine plural noun designating the Egyptian ritual specialists who had previously matched Moses' and Aaron's signs.
• lateihem ("their enchantments", H3909) — masculine plural noun in construct with a possessive suffix, indicating the specific technique or means the magicians employed.
• hotzi' ("bring forth", H3318L) — hiphil infinitive, marking a causative action ("to cause to come out"), showing that the magicians sought to produce the gnats, not merely observe them.
• yakholu ("they were able", H3201) — qal perfect, a completed action negated by lo' ("not", H3808), stating flatly that the attempt did not succeed.
• kinnam ("gnat(s)", H3654) — masculine singular noun (collective), the subject of tehi ("it was", H1961), describing the continued presence of the plague.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav construction va-ya'asu khen ("and they did thus"), which mirrors the phrasing used elsewhere in the plague narratives to describe successful replication by the magicians. Here, however, the clause is immediately qualified: the magicians act be-lateihem ("by their enchantments", H3909) le-hotzi' ("to bring forth", H3318L) et ha-kinnim ("the gnats", H3654) — the hiphil infinitive expressing their intended causative goal. The purpose clause is followed directly by ve-lo' yakholu ("and they were not able", H3201), a qal perfect negated, which reports the outcome as a completed, unambiguous failure.

The second half of the verse shifts to a new narrative vav clause, va-tehi ha-kinnam ("and the gnat(s) was/were", H1961), using the feminine verb form with the masculine singular collective noun kinnam (H3654). This clause states the persistence of the infestation independently of the magicians' failed attempt, locating it ba-adam ("on humankind", H0120G) u-va-behemah ("and on livestock", H0929), both governed by the preposition be- ("in/on", H9003) with the definite article. The parallel structure of "on humankind and on livestock" repeats the totality formula seen elsewhere in the plague accounts.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders chartummim (H2748) as οἱ ἐπαοιδοί ("the enchanters/singers of spells"), a term emphasizing verbal incantation, while the Vulgate uses malefici ("evildoers, sorcerers"), a term with negative moral connotation not present in the Hebrew chartummim, which is a neutral professional title. The Hebrew kinnim (H3654, "gnats") is translated by the LXX as σκνῖΦες and by the Vulgate as sciniphes, both transliteration-like renderings reflecting uncertainty about the precise insect referred to, consistent with the range seen in modern translations ("gnats," "piojos" = "lice").