The Gnats

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to ·raise [extend] his ·walking stick [staff] and strike the dust on the ground. Then everywhere in Egypt the dust will change into gnats.” ¹⁷ They did this, and when Aaron ·raised [extended] the ·walking stick [staff] that was in his hand and struck the dust on the ground, everywhere in Egypt the dust changed into gnats. The gnats got on the people and ·animals [cattle]. ¹⁸ Using their ·tricks [magic arts], the ·magicians [sorcerers] tried to do the same thing, but they could not make the dust change into gnats. The gnats remained on the people and animals. ¹⁹ So the ·magicians [sorcerers] told ·the king [^LPharaoh] that the ·power [^Lfinger] of God had done this. But the ·king was stubborn [^Lheart of Pharaoh was hard] and refused to listen to them, just as the Lord had said.