Exodus 8:16

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 8:16

And the Lord said unto Moses
On the twenty seventh day of the month, according to Bishop Usher, the same day the flogs were removed; no warning is given him of the next plague, at least there is no account of any:

say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land;
in some one part of the land, that place nearest to him where there was a quantity of dust; for it cannot be imagined that he should smite all the dust of the land in every part of it, but smiting one part served for the whole:

that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt:
not gnats, as some, nor flies, as others, but lice, though perhaps not of the common and ordinary sort, but new and extraordinary, and it may be of different sorts, suitable to different creatures.

Exodus 8:16 In-Context

14 And they put them together in masses, and a bad smell went up from the land.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was peace for a time, he made his heart hard and did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so; and Aaron, stretching out the rod in his hand, gave a touch to the dust of the earth, and insects came on man and on beast; all the dust of the earth was changed into insects through all the land of Egypt.

18 And the wonder-workers with their secret arts, attempting to make insects, were unable to do so: and there were insects on man and on beast.