Exodus 8:7

8:7 The magicians did the same ¹  with their secret arts and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt too. ² 

Exodus 7:22

7:22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same ³  by their secret arts, and so ⁴  Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ⁵  and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron ⁶  – just as the Lord had predicted.

Exodus 8:18

8:18 When ⁷  the magicians attempted ⁸  to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals.

[8:7]  ¹ tn Heb “thus, so.”

[8:7]  ² sn In these first two plagues the fact that the Egyptians could and did duplicate them is ironic. By duplicating the experience, they added to the misery of Egypt. One wonders why they did not use their skills to rid the land of the pests instead, and the implication of course is that they could not.

[7:22]  ³ tn Heb “thus, so.”

[7:22]  ⁴ tn The vav consecutive on the preterite introduces the outcome or result of the matter – Pharaoh was hardened.

[7:22]  ⁵ 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.

[7:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “to them”; the referents (Moses and Aaron) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[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.”