Exodus 8:16-19 P. 3°. Lice or Gnats (i.e. mosquitoes) Swarm. In autumn, when much water is standing in the rice fields, swarms of mosquitoes, like clouds of dust, arise from their breeding-grounds. Perhaps that is why they are here described as generated from dust. Both renderings can plead ancient authority, but both scholarship and experience favour the second.
Related Commentaries of Exodus 8:16
Exodus 8:16-19
16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.