Exodus 8:17-19

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 8:17 tn Heb “man,” but in the generic sense of “humans” or “people” (also in v. 18).
2. Exodus 8:18 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the main clause as a temporal clause.
3. Exodus 8:18 tn Heb “and the magicians did so.”sn The report of what the magicians did (or as it turns out, tried to do) begins with the same words as the report about the actions of Moses and Aaron—“and they did so” (vv. 17 and 18). The magicians copy the actions of Moses and Aaron, leading readers to think momentarily that the magicians are again successful, but at the end of the verse comes the news that “they could not.” Compared with the first two plagues, this third plague has an important new feature, the failure of the magicians and their recognition of the source of the plague.
4. Exodus 8:19 tn Heb “and the magicians said.”
5. Exodus 8:19 tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics). sn The point of the magicians’ words is clear enough. They knew they were beaten and by whom. The reason for their choice of the word “finger” has occasioned many theories, none of which is entirely satisfying. At the least their statement highlights that the plague was accomplished by God with majestic ease and effortlessness. Perhaps the reason that they could not do this was that it involved producing life—from the dust of the ground, as in Genesis 2:7. The creative power of God confounded the magic of the Egyptians and brought on them a loathsome plague.
6. Exodus 8:19 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.