The Meaning of Exodus 7:11 Explained

Exodus 7:11

KJV: Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

YLT: And Pharaoh also calleth for wise men, and for sorcerers; and the scribes of Egypt, they also, with their flashings, do so,

Darby: And Pharaoh also called the sages and the sorcerers; and they too, the scribes of Egypt, did so with their enchantments:

ASV: Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Then Pharaoh  also called  the wise men  and the sorcerers:  now the magicians  of Egypt,  they also did  in like manner  with their enchantments. 

What does Exodus 7:11 Mean?

Study Notes

like CF. 2 Timothy 3:8 ; Exodus 8:18
Neither Satan nor his tools can create life: Revelation 13:15 will be a "lying wonder": 2 Thessalonians 2:9

Context Summary

Exodus 7:1-13 - Pharaoh Stubborn Against Israel's Release
How often we say in a similar tone, "I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?" Forty years in the wilderness, in absolute solitude, had robbed Moses of the eloquence with which Stephen credits him in earlier life. Like Jeremiah, he felt himself a child and unable to speak.
It is an awful moment when the human will sets itself in antagonism to the divine. If it will not bend, it must break. For once the scion of an imperial race had met his superior. It were better for the potsherd to strive with the potsherds of the earth! But God is not unreasonable. At the outset He endeavored to prove to Pharaoh who and what He was. One of the chief reasons for the plagues, as well as of these miracles, was to establish the fact that the Jehovah of the Hebrews was the great Being who lives behind the whole apparatus of nature. [source]

Chapter Summary: Exodus 7

1  Moses and Aaron are encouraged to go again to Pharaoh
8  Aaron's rod is turned into a serpent
11  The sorcerers do the like; but their rods are swallowed up by Aaron's
13  Pharaoh's heart is hardened
14  God's message to Pharaoh
19  The river is turned into blood; and the consequent distress of the Egyptians

What do the individual words in Exodus 7:11 mean?

But called also Pharaoh the wise men and the sorcerers so did also they the magicians of Egypt with their enchantments in like manner
וַיִּקְרָא֙ גַּם־ פַּרְעֹ֔ה לַֽחֲכָמִ֖ים וְלַֽמְכַשְּׁפִ֑ים וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֨וּ גַם־ הֵ֜ם חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י מִצְרַ֛יִם בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶ֖ם כֵּֽן

וַיִּקְרָא֙  But  called 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: קָרָא  
Sense: to call, call out, recite, read, cry out, proclaim.
גַּם־  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: גַּם  
Sense: also, even, indeed, moreover, yea.
פַּרְעֹ֔ה  Pharaoh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: פַּרְעֹה  
Sense: the common title of the king of Egypt.
לַֽחֲכָמִ֖ים  the  wise  men 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Adjective, masculine plural
Root: חָכָם  
Sense: wise, wise (man).
וְלַֽמְכַשְּׁפִ֑ים  and  the  sorcerers 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article, Verb, Piel, Participle, masculine plural
Root: כָּשַׁף  
Sense: (Piel) to practice witchcraft or sorcery, use witchcraft.
וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֨וּ  so  did 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
גַם־  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: גַּם  
Sense: also, even, indeed, moreover, yea.
חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י  the  magicians 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: חַרְטֹם  
Sense: diviner, magician, astrologer.
מִצְרַ֛יִם  of  Egypt 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: מִצְרַיִם  
Sense: a country at the northeastern section of Africa, adjacent to Palestine, and through which the Nile flows adj Egyptians = “double straits”.
בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶ֖ם  with  their  enchantments 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: לַהַט 
Sense: flame (of an angelic sword).
כֵּֽן  in  like  manner 
Parse: Adverb
Root: כֵּן 
Sense: so, therefore, thus.