Exodus 8:7

Summary

The verse reports that the Egyptian magicians replicated Moses' and Aaron's action, using their own enchantments to bring frogs up onto the land of Egypt. This occurs in the context of the plague narrative, showing the magicians imitating the sign already performed.

Key words

• va-ya'asu ("and they did", H6213A) — qal narrative verb with vav-consecutive, marking the next sequential event: "and then they did."
• khen ("thus", H3651C) — adverb referring back to the prior action, indicating replication of what was just described.
• chartummim ("magicians", H2748) — masculine plural noun with the definite article ha- (H9009), identifying the specific group of Egyptian ritual specialists.
• be-latei-hem ("by their enchantments", H3909 + H9028) — construct noun in plural with prepositional prefix be- ("by") and pronominal suffix "their," specifying the means by which the magicians acted.
• va-ya'alu ("and they brought up", H5927G) — hiphil (causative) narrative verb, denoting that the magicians caused the frogs to come up, paralleling the causative action attributed earlier to Aaron.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two sequential clauses joined by narrative vav (H9001), each opening with a verb in the narrative (vav-consecutive) form. The first clause, va-ya'asu-khen ha-chartummim be-latei-hem ("and the magicians did thus by their enchantments"), uses the qal verb ya'asu ("they did", H6213A) followed by the adverb khen ("thus", H3651C), which points backward to an action already narrated rather than describing a new one — the text does not specify the content of the deed here, only that it matched a prior model. The agent is ha-chartummim ("the magicians", H2748), marked definite, and the means is expressed with the preposition be- ("by", H9003) attached to latei-hem ("their enchantments", H3909), a plural construct noun with a possessive suffix.

The second clause shifts to a hiphil verb, va-ya'alu ("and they brought up", H5927G), a causative form indicating that the magicians did not merely see frogs appear but actively caused them to rise. The direct object is marked by 'et (H0853, untranslated) before ha-tzepharde'im ("the frogs", H6854), and the location is given as 'eretz Mitzrayim ("land of Egypt", H0776G + H4714G), a construct phrase meaning "land of Egypt." The construct form 'eretz ties the frogs' emergence specifically to the territory of Egypt rather than a general area.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-chartummim ("the magicians") as οἱ ἐπαοιδοὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ("the enchanters of the Egyptians"), adding an explicit ethnic identifier not present in the Hebrew noun itself. The Vulgate uses malefici ("evildoers/sorcerers") for the same term, a word choice differing from both the Hebrew's more neutral occupational term and the LXX's phrase. For be-latei-hem ("by their enchantments"), the LXX has ταῖς φαρμακίαις αὐτῶν ("by their drugs/potions"), while the Vulgate has per incantationes suas ("through their incantations"), both translating the instrumental sense but with different semantic ranges for the type of practice implied.