Exodus 8:16-19

The Third Blow: Gnats

8:16 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Extend your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become ²  gnats ³  throughout all the land of Egypt.’” 8:17 They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people ⁴  and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt. 8:18 When ⁵  the magicians attempted ⁶  to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals. 8:19 The magicians said ⁷  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ⁸  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ⁹  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

[8:16]  ¹ sn The third plague is brief and unannounced. Moses and Aaron were simply to strike the dust so that it would become gnats. Not only was this plague unannounced, but also it was not duplicated by the Egyptians.

[8:16]  ² tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, meaning “and it will be.” When הָיָה (hayah) is followed by the lamed (ל) proposition, it means “become.”

[8:16]  ³ tn The noun is כִּנִּים (kinnim). The insect has been variously identified as lice, gnats, ticks, flies, fleas, or mosquitoes. “Lice” follows the reading in the Peshitta and Targum (and so Josephus, Ant. 2.14.3 [2.300]). Greek and Latin had “gnats.” By “gnats” many commentators mean “mosquitoes,” which in and around the water of Egypt were abundant (and the translators of the Greek text were familiar with Egypt). Whatever they were they came from the dust and were troublesome to people and animals.

[8:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “man,” but in the generic sense of “humans” or “people” (also in v. 18).

[8:18]  ⁵ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the main clause as a temporal clause.

[8:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the magicians did so.”

[8:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

[8:19]  ⁸ tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).

[8:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.